


Know your worth

by Roxias



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien redeems himself, Adrien salt, Angst, Chloè redemption, Drama, F/M, I have so much salt, LadyNoir - Freeform, Lila exposed, Love, Marichat, New Miraculous Holders, Ruined Friendship, adrienette - Freeform, anti alyanette, anti alynino for now, ladrien, love square, relationship, salt fic, salt is old but wtf im still kinda mad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-16 14:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20843180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roxias/pseuds/Roxias
Summary: Marinette lost her friends.She was done. She was tired.That is until someone new comes to Paris.





	1. How’s that for fact check?

How would people describe Marinette Dupain-Cheng?

Kind.

Helpful.

Determined.

An everyday Ladybug. 

She was a very admirable person. She always wanted everyone to fit in. She always looked for the good in people. All of her classmates saw her as a very kind-hearted person. That is... until Lila Rossi showed up. 

Ever since Lila Rossi showed up, Marinette’s life had fallen apart. She had been sent to the back without having a chance to tell everyone how she felt about it. They all thought she would be okay with it. No one believed her when she called Lila out for being a liar. Adrien had told her to take the high road but where had that lead her? Sitting alone at the back of class while she watches her so called ‘best friend’ laugh along with Lila. 

It was useless to call her out on her lies because Lila would bring out the crocodile tears and end up blaming her which would result in the whole class turning against her. Marinette was definitely tired of it all. 

***

The bell rang signaling the end of class. Marinette got up from her seat and walked down the stairs to make her way out and go home for lunch. 

“Hey, Lila. How about sitting with us for lunch?” Alya asked.

”That’s so nice of you Alya. I’d love that.” Lila said sweetly, it sickened Marinette.

Marinette continued walking when she heard her name being called out. She turned around to see Alya running up to her. 

“Hey, girl. You wanna have lunch with us? Lila’s going to tell us about her trip to Achu.” Alya smiled.

”No, thanks. I actually told my mom I’d eat lunch at home.” She said.

Alya sighed, “look, I’m sorry if you were sent to the back of the class. But, you know Lila has tinnitus from saving Jagged Stone’s kitten on that runway.”

Marinette rolled her eyes at her, “yeah, a kitten he never even had in the first place and the fact that it was on an airport runway? What worker in their right mind would let any person on the runway?” 

“She said there was no workers on the scene.” Alya stated.

Marinette groaned. “Ugh, think Alya! She’s obviously lying to you. Jagged Stone never had a kitten. Never wrote a song about her. She doesn’t know Prince Ali or has ever been to Achu and Ladybug is NOT her best friend.” 

“ENOUGH.” Alya shouted which shocked Marinette. “Girl, all you’ve been doing is calling Lila a liar without ANY proof of her lying. You’re just jealous because she tried to hit on Adrien WHICH she told Nino that she’s not even into him.” 

Marinette clenched her fists. She couldn’t believe Alya right now. “Are you serious right now, Alya? You really think I’m calling her out just because I’m jealous?”

”Every time Lila has gotten close or even talked to Adrien, you’d freak out. I’m pretty sure—“

”Not everything has to do with Adrien! I hate liars. You already know that.” Marinette said angrily. She took a deep breath and breathed out. _Not today, Hawkmoth. Not ever. _

Their argument ended up catching people’s attention. They all turned to look at the two best friends arguing with one another. 

“Well, Lila isn’t a liar. Seriously, why would she ever lie about these things? Come on, have lunch with us and you’ll see.”

”I rather starve than have lunch with a liar.” She said coldly.

There were collective gasps among the crowd that watched them. Then suddenly, sobs could be heard and everyone turned to look in the direction of the sobs to see Lila with crocodile tears running down her face. “All I wanted was to make friends with everyone. But, I can see that all I’m doing is causing trouble. I should go.” 

Students looked at the Italian girl sympathetically and turned their attention back to Marinette. She couldn’t believe it... Lila had managed to make her look like the worst person in all of Paris. 

“Marinette, how could you!?” Alya shouted. “You need to double check your facts. Because Lila is obviously not a liar like you claim her to be.”

Marinette glared at Alya with clenched fists. She couldn’t believe her best friend right now. “Well guess what Alya, if you rather side with a liar, then I’m done being your friend. How’s that for a fact check?” She retorted as she turned on her heel and left, leaving her former best friend appalled. 

Marinette was done. Marinette was tired. There was no one else she could trust.

***

The Star train had come to a stop and out stepped a girl with blonde shoulder length hair and emerald eyes. 

“Paris, your Tiger Lily is back.” 


	2. After all, we are family.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien meets a surprise guest

Ashlyn Agreste. The daughter of the worlds famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. If people were to describe her, they’d say she was a humble person and kind-hearted as well. She frankly did not care for the money at all. She lived for the adventure and that’s all that ever mattered to her. 

As she walked off the Star train, she heard a yawn from inside her shirt pocket. 

“Are we there yet?” A small tiger like Kwami said tiredly. 

She let out a small chuckle. “Yes, Roaar. We’re here.” 

“Oh goodie. Are we going to see the Master today?” He said excitedly.

”No, maybe not today. Father wants me home immediately to discuss about my travels.” She explained.

The Kwami let out a yawn again. “Your dad gives me a weird vibe. He’s so... mean.” 

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and smiled, “that’s my father for you.” She looked up to see Nathalie and Gorilla waiting for her. She waved over at them as she grabbed her suitcase and made her way towards their direction. 

“Welcome back, Ashlyn.” Nathalie smiled.

Ashlyn smiled as she pulled Nathalie into a hug which surprised the secretary. “It’s good to see you.” She pulled away from her to give Gorilla a hug too and he returned it by giving her a small pat on the shoulder. 

“Shall we get going? Your father is expecting you.” Nathalie said.

Ashlyn nodded her head at the secretary as she made her way into the car while Gorilla put her luggage into the trunk. Afterwards, he got into the car and drove towards the Agreste Mansion. 

_I can’t wait to see how Adrien has been doing. _Ashlyn thought. 

She heard from Nathalie that her father had finally decided to let Adrien go to a public school. She was very excited when she heard the news. Their father was very strict with Adrien because of the way he was similar to their mom. 

Mom...

Ashlyn could barely remember anything about her mom. All she had to remember her by were the pictures in her room and that was it. She tried to find the movie she starred in but her father had hidden the only copy in the house and it wasn’t even on the internet. Would her father tell her about her mom if she asked? Probably not. 

She knew how busy her father was. 

***

Adrien sat in silence at the table with his father across from him. They haven’t spoken a word to each other since he came home for lunch. Adrien looked up at his father who was busy on his tablet, most likely looking through his schedule. 

Before he could say something to him, his father got up from the table. “Come, Adrien.”

Adrien gulped as he got up from the dining table and followed his father who stood at the front door. Adrien stood beside him wondering if someone was coming over for a visit. It would most likely be people from the fashion show coming to discuss about the next one.

They heard a car pull up to the front of the mansion. People had gotten down and were now coming to the front door. Once they reached it, they opened it up to reveal themselves.

Adrien’s eyes widened in shock when he realized that his sister was standing before him. Ashlyn smiled wide in excitement as she went over to hug her brother. 

“Adrien!!! I’ve missed you soooo much my twin brother!” She squealed as she pulled away from him. “I heard about you getting into a public school! I’m so happy for you.” 

Adrien smiled happily at his sister. “Thanks, Ash.”

Just then, Gabriel cleared his throat which made Ashlyn and Adrien look over at him. “Welcome back my dear daughter.” He said with a small smile. 

“I’ve missed you father.” She smiled as the two embraced each other into a hug. 

Gabriel cleared up his throat again. “Why don’t we discuss some things in my office. Adrien, you too.” 

Adrien looked at his father surprised. “Y-yes, father.” He said nervously. He’s never had discussions with his father in his office. This must be really important for sure. He walked into the office with Ashlyn beside him. 

Once they got in, Nathalie closed the door behind them and stood in front of it. Adrien and Ashlyn sat on one of the sofas while their father sat in front of them. 

“Ashlyn, as you’re well aware Adrien is currently attending College Françoise DuPont.” He reminded.

”Yes, father.” She said and gave a small smile to Adrien. 

Gabriel nodded at her. “Of course, you’ll be attending the same school as well and I’ve already requested you take the same classes as Adrien. Nathalie has offered to organize your schedule for fencing, Chinese, and your photo shoots.” He added.

Adrien smiled over at his sister, “Ash, I’m so happy for you.” 

“I’m happy too! Thank you, father.” She smiled.

He simply nodded at her and got up from his seat. “That will be all. Nathalie will call you when I’m ready to discuss about your travels Ashlyn. Adrien, don’t forget you have a photoshoot right after school.” 

The siblings nodded at their father as they got up from the sofa and made their way out his office. Ashlyn squealed in excitement. She was much more excited about going to school than Adrien was. “I can’t wait to meet your friends, Adrien! Oh... I hope they like me though.” She said nervously.

”Don’t worry. My friends are nice. You’ll especially like Marinette.” He smiled.

She raised an eyebrow at him, “Marinette?”

Adrien smiled, “she’s this really awesome girl in my class. She won father’s fashion design contest and I modeled the hat she made.” 

Ashlyn did remember that fashion show. She always watched her father’s shows or anything that related to her father and brother. She remembered the hat Adrien modeled and it was really amazing that’s for sure. This Marinette girl really had talent.

”I can’t wait to meet her!” Ashlyn smiled excitedly. 

“Great.” He said.

”Adrien, it’s time to head back to school.” Nathalie informed.

Adrien nodded his head at her as he waved goodbye to Ashlyn. That’s when she noticed a ring on Adrien’s finger. As far as she could tell, Adrien has never worn a ring unless he was modeling. But this ring was different. 

“Ash?” 

She snapped out of her thoughts to look up at Adrien. “Sorry, I’m just... curious about your ring. You’ve never worn a ring unless it was for modeling and afterwards you’d take them out.” She explained.

Adrien’s eyes widened not knowing how to respond to that. “Um.. uh.. Gotta go! See ya after school!” He said and was out the door.

She narrowed her eyes at her brother as he ran out the door. Once he got in the car and left, she went upstairs to his room and had a look around.

Roaar flew out of her shirt to take in the new place. “Something smells horrid.” He commented as he flew to a cabinet and phased through it. “Gross!!” He shouted and phased back out. “Your brother is weird for keeping a heck load of cheese in his cabinet.” 

Ashlyn raised an eyebrow at her Kwami as she opened up the cabinet to see it filled with camembert. The horrid odor filled her nose as she quickly pinched it with her fingers. “But, Adrien doesn’t eat cheese. Especially camembert.” She said. 

Things were getting even more suspicious. She decided to investigate some more. She noticed his computer and went up to it. Once it turned on, it automatically opened up to a website.

”The... Ladyblog?” Ashlyn said confused.

”Hey, isn’t that the bug superhero that Master Fu talked about in his letters?” Roaar asked.

”You’re right. It is her. Wow, to think she saves Paris on a daily from Hawkmoth.” Ashlyn said as she sat in the office chair and scrolled through the blog. She noticed a picture of Ladybug and another super hero who she figured is Chat Noir. 

“What was Chat Noir’s Miraculous again?” She asked.

”A ring.” Roaar answered. 

That’s when Ashlyn remembered Adrien’s ring and how he acted nervous earlier. Her eyes widened as she looked over at Chat Noir then a picture of Adrien. It couldn’t be. But it was...

“Adrien is... Chat Noir.” She said. 

“Wow.. to think Master Fu gave your brother the Cat Miraculous. The power of destruction.” Roaar commented.

Ashlyn gave her a half smile, “I’m glad it was Adrien. He’s definitely someone trustworthy.” 

“Yeah. You’re right.” Roaar said. “Let’s see more of this blog.” 

Ashlyn scrolled down some more looking through pictures and videos of Ladybug and Chat Noir. She smiled at the two as well as Roaar. 

“The Master made the right choice.” He smiled.

”Yup. They’re made for each other.” Ashlyn said as she kept scrolling down the blog to see a video of a girl. “Wonder who’s this?” She said as she played the video.

_The girl laughed with a hand placed over her chest. _

_“Ladybug saved my life once, that’s how I met her.” She smiled._

_Hmm... Most likely a fan?_ Ashlyn thought_. _

_“How close would you say you guys are?” The reporter asked._

_The girl laughed, “Ladybug and me? We’re like this.” She said crossing her fingers at the camera. _

“That’s weird.” Ashlyn said.

”What is?” Roaar asked.

“This girl...” She read over the title and saw her name. “Lila Rossi. She’s just casually explaining her friendship with Ladybug out on an open blog.” 

“Is... is that a bad thing?” Her kwami asked.

”It is. Because villains would be able to take advantage of that.” She said as she turned her head back to the screen to see a picture of the same girl. “Unless she’s lying and she isn’t friends with Ladybug.” 

Ashlyn was suspicious of the Italian girl. Why would someone openly talk about their friendship with a superhero? They do know the consequences, don’t they? She got up from the office chair. 

“Come on, Roaar. Looks like we are visiting the Master today.” She said as she opened up her shirt pocket.

”Wouldn’t it be easier to transform and head there?” Roaar groaned.

”And have my father get suspicious? No thanks.” She said as Roaar flew into her shirt pocket and she made her way out the door. Nathalie had come home from dropping Adrien to school. 

“Will my father be seeing me soon?” She asked the secretary.

Nathalie shook her head at her.

”Will it be alright if I go out for a bit? Just to get used to Paris again? All this traveling around the country hasn’t worn off quite yet.” 

“Very well. I shall ask your bodyguard to—“

”No need. I prefer walking if that’s alright.” Ashlyn said.

Nathalie eyed her suspiciously and sighed. “As long as you’re home in time for dinner. Your father will most likely discuss your travels with you then.” 

Ashlyn nodded at her, “thank you, Nathalie.” And with that, she was out the door and on her way to Master Fu’s place. She looked around to make sure no one else was following her. 

Once she knew she was alone, she continued on her way til she reached a small home that smelled of herbal tea and incense. She gently knocked on the door and opened it up to see Master Fu meditating. 

He opened his eyes and smiled, “welcome back, Tiger Lily.”

She smiled as she went up and sat in front of the Master and bowed her head at him. Roaar flew out of her shirt pocket to greet the Master and Wayzz. 

“I see Roaar has been doing good.” Master Fu smiled.

”You entrusted me with the right owner.” Roaar smiled. He didn’t always compliment people, so this was definitely a first for Ashlyn. 

“Now, why don’t you tell me what’s troubling you?” He asked as he got up to grab a tea pot and pour the two a cup of herbal tea. 

“It still surprises me how you know these type of things.” She chuckled as she grabbed the tea cup that he handed to her. 

Master Fu urged her to speak. 

She sighed, “There’s this girl I just found out... Lila Rossi. She’s been openly explaining how she’s close to Ladybug and that they’re best friends and... I just think it’s weird for her to exploit that kind of information when it could possibly put her and Ladybug in danger.”

Master Fu sipped from his tea and nodded at her. “I’ve heard about this girl from Ladybug herself. They are not friends at all and the Lila girl also claimed to have the Fox Miraculous.”

Ashlyn’s eyes widened at him. “But, you would never trust her with it, would you?” 

Master Fu shook his head at her. “The Fox miraculous is safely inside the Miracle Box. There’s already a new Fox Hero: Rena Rouge.”

Ashlyn sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. I don’t know how I’d feel knowing a liar was entrusted with a miraculous.” Just then, her phone went off as she grabbed it out of her pocket to see a text from Nathalie saying she was needed home. 

She sighed as she set her tea cup down on the table. “Well, I gotta go Master. I’ll see you when I can. Hoping to meet Ladybug soon.”

Master Fu smiled, “I’m sure she’d like to meet you too. What about Chat Noir?” 

Ashlyn smiled, “you made a great choice.”

He looked at her in shock. “How did you—“

”It wasn’t at all hard to figure out. His secret is safe with me. After all, we are family.” She said and she was out the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confused? Don’t worry! I got you.  
Adrien and Ashlyn are twins.   
Adrien is the older one between them.   
Ashlyn traveled around the world as part of Gabriel’s international fashion launch.   
She’s similar to both her parents but Adrien looks more like their mom.   
How did she get a Miraculous?   
Master Fu was a substitute Chinese tutor so he taught Ashlyn and he trusted her, so he showed her the miracle box.   
She told him news about her going across to different places and was sad she was leaving so, Master Fu entrusted her with the Tiger Miraculous who would always keep her company. The day she left is when Hawkmoth attacked and that was when Marinette and Adrien got their miraculous.  
Tiger Miraculous (This is just made up okay)  
Abilities: Super strength   
Miraculous: Able to camouflage without transformation   
Hope this clears some things up :D


	3. I've missed this place. Wanna trade?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg and Ashlyn meet.  
Ashlyn is excited for her first day of school.

* * *

He thought taking the high road was better than exposing Lila. He thought that Marinette wouldn’t do anything to try and expose her and be patient for her to get caught up in her own lies. He didn’t expect Marinette still doing her best to expose her for the liar she is. He needed to do something before it got worse.

“Marinette, we need to talk.” He said as he grabbed her hand and walked somewhere far from everyone else. As soon as he knew that it was just the two of them, he let go of her hand.

”Marinette, what happened to taking the high road? What happened to letting her expose herself? What’s gotten into you?” He asked, a bit of anger in his voice. 

“What’s gotten into me? What’s gotten into ME? All my friends turned on me for that liar. You KNOW she’s a liar Adrien! Why can’t you stand up for me?” She cried.

”You’ll only hurt Lila more than yourself. She’ll end up getting akumatized over and over again and at what cost? Marinette—“

”Shut up.” She said coldly, which shocked Adrien. She’s never acted so cold towards anyone. 

“I thought I could trust you. I thought you were with me throughout this whole mess, you called me everyone’s Everyday Ladybug but guess I was wrong. She got you to turn on me too.” She said.

”Marinette, that’s not—“

”We’re done, Adrien. You were never a true friend.” She said as she walked away.

Adrien’s heart dropped. Her words had stabbed him like a knife. 

_You were never a true friend_. 

Plagg came out of his shirt pocket. “Kid, you alright?”

”Yeah... Hey, do you think I’m a bad friend?” He asked. 

He sighed, “well, you chose a liar over a friend.” 

“Gee, thanks...”

”I’m serious. You knew Marinette was telling the truth and you knew Lila was a liar but you still chose to side with her rather than stick up for Marinette.” 

“Because if you expose her, she’ll just get akumatized.”

Plagg scoffed, “seriously? What do you think Ladybug and Chat Noir are here for?”

”We can’t always deal with the same akumatized person over and over. Besides, I also think that Lila’s lies aren’t really hurting anyone.” He said.

Plagg sighed, “the more you stick with that mindset, you’ll end up losing a lot more than a friend.” With that, he flew back in the Adrien’s shirt. Adrien didn’t know what he meant by that. He just knew that as long as Lila’s lies weren’t hurting anyone, then it would be fine.

He decided he’d leave Marinette alone for awhile to cool down. 

***

“Ashlyn, where did you go?” Gabriel asked with a stern voice.

”I just... went around the neighborhood that’s all.” She lied. Well, technically it wasn’t. Master Fu’s house wasn’t at all far from here. 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at her. “Next time, have a bodyguard with you. I can’t bare to have anything happen to you or Adrien.” He scolded.

Ashlyn nodded at him. “Yes, father. Um, will we be discussing about my travels?” 

Gabriel shook his head at her. “We’ll save that for another day. After all, you just came back home. How about you prepare for your first day of school tomorrow?” 

Ashlyn smiled lightly at him and nodded. She then proceeded to go upstairs to her room to prepare for her first day. “I hope everything goes good tomorrow.” 

“Are you nervous?” Roaar asked flying out of her shirt pocket.

“Extremely. I’ve never had friends before aside from Chloé.” She said as she put away a textbook into her bag.

”Ahem.” Roaar said with crossed arms.

”Oh, and of course you too, Roaar.” She smiled as she gently pet his head which earned a smile. “I just hope that I’m able to make friends.”

”Don’t worry, you will.” He smiled.

They both heard a car pull up and knew that Adrien was home from school. She ran downstairs to greet him. “Adrien! Can we talk about school?” 

Adrien smiled at her, “sure, I’d love to but, right after I shower alright? Gotta prep for the photoshoot and I can’t smell like a locker room.” 

Ashlyn didn’t know what a locker room smelled like but she assumed it really smelled bad judging from the way Adrien said it. 

“Is it alright if I hang in your room then?” She asked.

”Sure.” He said as he made his way upstairs with Ashlyn following behind him. They got into his room as Ashlyn made her way to his couch and sat down.

“I’ve missed this place. Wanna trade?” She joked.

Adrien let out a laugh, “I think I’m good. I’ll be in the shower.” He said as he grabbed a towel and some clothes and made his way inside. As soon as he was inside, she called to him. 

“Adrien!”

No answer.

”Adrien! Can you hear me?” She shouted again.

No answer. 

Perfect. She let out a smile as she looked around his room. “I know you’re here. You don’t have to hide from me. I know that my brother is Chat Noir.” When she got no response, she nodded over at Roaar to take out a piece of camembert from the cabinet. She heard arguing and looked behind to see Roaar fighting off another Kwami for the cheese.

”Well well well, guessing you're my brother’s Kwami, huh little kitty cat?” Ashlyn smirked as she looked over at Plagg.

”Names Plagg. Can I have my camembert back please?” He whispered quietly so as not to alarm Adrien. 

Ashlyn smiled at the little kwami as she took the camembert from Roaar and gave it to Plagg. He smiled as he hugged the cheese disgusting Roaar. 

"Anyways... How'd you figured he was Chat Noir? And how do _you _have a miraculous?" He asked.

Ashlyn went on to explaining how she found out Adrien was Chat Noir and how she had met Master Fu before he even gave Adrien a miraculous. Plagg didn't at all seem to care about half of what she said, instead he yawned and ate a piece of camembert. He looked over Roaar and let out a loud burp.

"Ugh! Disgusting." Roaar complained.

Ashyln laughed as Roaar made his way back into her shirt pocket. "Don't worry, his secret is safe with me." 

"Are you going to tell him you know?" The Kwami asked.

Ashlyn shook her head at him. "It's best he doesn't. For his safety and mine." She said as she walked out of Adrien's room and made her way back to hers. She lied down on her bed while Roaar flew out of her shirt pocket and lay on the pillow beside her. 

"Are you really not going to tell him?" Her Kwami asked.

Ashlyn shook her head at him, "no. Even if he is my brother, I can't risk his safety or mine." She said as she texted Adrien that she'd see him tomorrow. 

***

Today was the first day of school. Well, for Ashlyn that is. She got up very early to get ready for her first day. She ate her breakfast quick and made her way out to their car with Adrien running behind her. 

"Ash, come on," he chuckled, almost out of breath, "you gotta calm down."

"Calm down!? It's my first day at a REAL school! I can't wait to actually sit down in a class, meet new people, and just do... school things!" She smiled excitedly as she entered the car with Adrien. "I can't wait to meet your friend Marinette too! She seems like a really cool girl."

Adrien averted his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. "About Marinette... I think it's best you don't talk to her." 

Ashlyn's eyes widened at him, "why? What happened?" 

"I gave her advice about taking the high road and not to expose someone for their lies because they're not hurting anyone. But, she didn't listen. She also ended our friendship and said I was never a true friend." 

"Who was she trying to expose?" Ashlyn asked, disregarding the fact that he was sad about this.

"Lila Rossi. I can understand why she lies because she just wants to make friends. Marinette's been trying to expose her and I told her to just leave her be. Her lies aren't hurting anyone and eventually Lila will expose herself." He said.

Ashlyn didn't say anything else. She expected much from her brother to always look for the good in people. She just never expected him to be such an idiot for not wanting to expose the liar. She didn't look at him, instead she stared out the window. "And you really think that's such a good idea?" 

"Well, it keeps her from getting akumatized over and over again which I know can be tiring for Ladybug and Chat Noir." He said as he felt Plagg move inside his shirt pocket, possibly fuming. 

Ashlyn shook her head and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Really, she loved her brother but he's such an idiot. Ashlyn couldn't wait to meet Marinette.

Their car pulled up to the school and Adrien was the first to get down as he held the door open for Ashlyn. She walked out and was amazed by the school. She couldn't wait any longer as she went inside and took a look around causing people to start whispering about her.

_Who's the new girl?_

_She kinda looks a bit like Adrien._

_Isn't that Ashlyn Agreste? _

_She's so cute!_

Adrien walked up to her and showed her where Ms. Bustier's class was. She was definitely excited to be in school. Just then, she saw a girl with pig tails walk past her and into the class. 

"That's Marinette." Adrien whispered.

Ashlyn nodded at him and watched as the girl made her way to her desk in the back of the class. She furrowed her eyebrows at her noticing how lonely she looked but also of how similar she was to Ladybug. 

Ashlyn Agreste was definitely smarter than the average person. Or in this case... the whole class. 


	4. I’m not dumb like your whole class.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashlyn meets Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late update but I’ve been busy with things! Hope you all enjoy.

The bell rang for school and students started fluttering into the classroom. Ashlyn looked at all her new classmates and started feeling nervous. Could she really do this? Go to school and make new friends? She bit her lip nervously and felt a hand on her shoulder then turned around to look at Adrien who gave her thumbs up. She smiled as she looked back inside the class. 

"I'll meet you inside. Just come in when you're ready. Ms. Bustier always gives new students time to compose themselves before class." He smiled as he walked inside and sat at his desk in the front row. 

Ashlyn breathed in and out slowly trying to calm her nerves down. 

"Hi there. You must be new." A sweet voice called out. She looked up to see a girl with long brown hair and olive green eyes. She immediately recognized the girl standing before her. The girl who lied about her friendship with Ladybug. The girl who somehow wrapped her brother up in her web of lies. Ashlyn looked over at her outfit and held back a look of disgust. She _was _the daughter of a world famous fashion designer.

She let out a fake smile at the girl, "yeah, I'm Ashlyn Agreste. Adrien's sister."

This took Lila by surprise. "I didn't know Adrien had a sister."

"Yeah, well... now you know, I guess." Ashlyn said.

"It's soo nice to meet you. We should get together and hang out sometime. Your brother and I are friends after all." She smiled as she entered the classroom and sat next to Adrien in the front row.

"_In your dreams..." _She mumbled under her breath. 

Just then, her teacher, Ms. Bustier, came out to see if she was ready to come into class. Ashlyn took a deep breath and nodded as Ms. Bustier escorted her into the classroom. They both stood in front of the room as the whole class had their eyes on them. Ms. Bustier nodded at Ashlyn as she began to speak. 

"Class, we have a new student today. Her name is Ashlyn Agreste." 

The class began to talk among each other then looked over at both Ashlyn and Adrien as they began asking questions.

"As in Adrien Agreste's sister?"

"Are you guys twins?"

"Adrien, bro, I didn't know you have a sister!"

"How come we only get to see you now?"

Ms. Bustier clapped her hands together which resulted in the class settling down. Ashlyn smiled as she looked up at them. "I've been traveling around the world for my father's fashion launch. That's why I haven't been around." She spoke. 

"Awesome! Did you meet any famous people?" Kim asked.

"I've met Prince Ali awhile back. We worked on a charity for the children's hospital together back in Achu." Ashlyn explained.

"Wow, Lila has also worked with Prince Ali on ending world pollution. Right, Lila?" Mylene smiled at the brunette.

Ashlyn's eyes widened in surprise. Prince Ali was not involved in those type of charities. His only involvements were the children's hospital and orphanage. Ashlyn spoke, "funny, Prince Ali has never mentioned anything about ending world pollution. He's told me he's more concerned with the children."

Lila froze in place as the whole class stared at her. Ashlyn tried to hide her smirk when she knew she had caught Lila in a lie. 

"Well, uh, he's told me numerous times about ending world pollution for the sake of the children's health." She lied. The whole class smiled as they praised Lila for her valued efforts in trying to end world pollution. 

Ashlyn shook her head at her and looked over at her brother who didn't even try to say anything. He _knew _she was lying but didn't bother to say anything. If there was one thing she knew about her brother, it was that he didn't have a backbone. 

Just then, the door flew open and in came Chloe who looked a lot more mad than usual. Her mood had changed when she noticed Ashlyn in the room and pulled her into a hug.

"Ashy!! You're back!" Chloe smiled as she pulled away from her and squeezed Ashlyn's cheeks. "Ugh, did you get a little chubby? Who's planning your eating regime? Seriously, this is what happens when you don't take me with you on your travels."

Ashlyn sighed as she smiled at Chloe, "it's nice to see you too, Chlo."

"Now that we've all gotten comfortable, how about we start class? Chloe please take your seat and Ashlyn, how about you take a seat right next to Marinette."

Ashlyn looked up at the girl with pigtails who averted her eyes. 

"Okay." She smiled as she made her way up to the back of the class. She could hear people talking about her already.

_Man, I feel sorry for her._

_Yeah, who knows what Marinette will do to her since she knows she's Adrien's sister._

_Poor, Ashlyn._

_She'll probably want transfer to another class by tomorrow._

"Will you all shut up and pay attention." Chloe said annoyed which caused the whole class to look at her surprised.

_Since when does she care about class?_

_Probably just jealous._

Chloe rolled her eyes as she kept her focus on Ms. Bustier. Ashlyn smiled down at her and sat down in her seat as she looked over at Marinette. She smiled at the midnight haired girl and stuck out her hand, "hi, I'm Ashlyn."

Marinette barely turned her head to face her, she looked at her from the side then back down at her desk. "...Marinette."

Ashlyn put her hand down and furrowed her eyebrows at the girl. "Are you okay?" 

She shook her head at her, "listen... you're new, so please, I wouldn't want to ruin your first day here. It's best if you ask Ms. Bustier to find you another seat..." 

Ashlyn smiled at her as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, I want to sit here. I like you, Marinette. You seem like a cool person." 

"Ashlyn-"

"You can call me Ash." She smiled.

"Um... Ash.. I'm not exactly.. who you think I am. Or.. who I was.. I've made a bunch of mistakes and I think it's better off if I was just left alone." 

Ashlyn looked at the girl then turned her attention back to Ms. Bustier. "She's a liar."

This made Marinette jump up in surprise. She didn't look over at Ashlyn, she continued to stare down at her desk. "If there's one thing I hate... it's liars. I know we've only met, but I know for sure that you aren't a liar. You're true to your word through and through just like that super heroine - Ladybug."

”I’m... nothing like Ladybug.” 

Ashlyn leaned in close to her ear, “it’s because you _are_ Ladybug.” She whispered as she turned her attention back to Ms. Bustier. She smiled when she noticed Marinette’s nervous expression. She looked over at Marinette again and winked at her. 

“Your secrets safe with me.”   
  
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Marinette stuttered.

”Marinette, I may be new to this school and Lila may say she has a fabulous life. But I’m not dumb like your whole class.” She said a little loud that some of her classmates were a bit startled but shrugged it off. 

“I hardly care what people think of me either. There’s bigger things to worry about than people who choose to side with liars.” 

For the first time in awhile, Marinette didn’t feel so alone anymore. For the first time in awhile, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was happy.   



	5. The name’s Tiger Lily, Kitty Noir.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir meet Tiger Lily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you watched the new episode Kwami Buster then you’ve probably already seen the Tiger Miraculous which is a Panjas bracelet. Also, I mentioned in the one of the chapter end notes that her power is super strength but that might end up changing!

Ashlyn Agreste was definitely smarter than most. She definitely surpassed Max who _was_ the smartest kid in their class. She was a lot different than her brother and in a way, she reminded Marinette of Chloé. She prayed that she wasn’t at all like Chloé...

The bell rang signaling it was time for the next class. Adrien walked up to Ashlyn and looked over at Marinette who averted her eyes as she put her stuff away into her bag. He furrowed his eyebrows at her and looked back at Ashlyn as he gave her a small smile.

”Hey, Ash. Ready for the next class?” He asked her.

”Yeah, just waiting on Marinette.” Ashlyn gestured towards the midnight haired girl who was still putting her stuff away and avoiding eye contact with Adrien.

”Ashlyn, if you wait for her you’ll end up being late to your next class which is Mendeleiev.” The three turned to see Lila walking up to them. Ashlyn narrowed her eyes at the brunette.

“And let me tell you... Mendeleiev HATES when people show up late to her class.” She smiled sweetly. 

“Thanks for the concern Lila... but I rather wait for Marinette.” She said as she crossed her arms.

”But Lila _is _right, Ashlyn. Mendeleiev hates when people arrive late to her class.”

“Then I guess you better get going.” She said as she narrowed her eyes at Adrien and Lila. 

”I’m only looking out for you, Ashlyn! Since you’re new and all, I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble on your first day because of Marinette.” Lila said with a fake tone.

Marinette flinched at the sound of her name as she put the last of her books in her bag. She didn’t want to be in this place anymore and watch Adrien side with Lila. “They’re right, Ash... You should get to Mendeleiev’s class. I don’t want to get you in trouble on your first day.” She said as she took her bag and pulled it over her shoulder.

“We’re both going to Mendeleiev’s.” Ashlyn said as she grabbed Marinette’s arm and looked over at Adrien. She shot him a glare as she walked out of the class with Marinette.

”Is everything alright, Adrien?” Lila asked.

”Um, yeah, I just... spaced out a bit.” 

“Oh, I see. Anyway, I was wondering if you would help me with my calculus homework. I’m having so much trouble remembering from all the trips I took with my mom.” 

Adrien didn’t look to sure about wanting to help Lila. But as far as he knew, this would be a good opportunity to get her to change and start being honest. He smiled as he started walking to his next class. “Sure, Lila.” 

Lila smiled at him as she walked out the classroom feeling accomplished at the fact she had managed to turn all of Marinette's friends against her and was slowly stealing Adrien away. Marinette will regret ever going into war with her. All she needed was to convince Ashlyn that Marinette isn't worth the time. If she was related to Adrien, she knew she could wrap her finger around her just like she did to her brother. She smiled in triumph as she walked to her next class. 

But if one things certain... Is that Ashlyn and Adrien were two totally different people.

"Why do you let her say those things about you, Marinette?" Ashlyn asked.

"I'm just done trying to convince your brother and everyone in my class that she's a liar." She sighed.

"I guess he's really not listening to you, huh? Want me to talk to him?"

Marinette's eyes widened at her as she shook her head. "N-no! It's bad enough I've already said some things to him. I-I don't want to make it worse." 

Ashlyn smiled at the girl as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "I believe you, Marinette. I really don't care what you said to my brother or whether you don't want to talk with him. I'm totally fine with that." 

"But, I-"

"Adrien will realize that her lies _are _hurting someone. That boy was just too exposed to the media to the point he's learned to just accept it as it is." Ashlyn said as she crossed her arms and sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how we're even related."

Marinette let out a laugh as Ashlyn smiled at her. The two continued walking to class and surprisingly made it on time. They sat in the back row and continued on talking until Ms. Mendeleiv started her lesson.

Turns out that Ashlyn was very competitive. She would often challenge Max with Ms. Mendeleiv's questions and get them right every time. But of course, she was also a good sport and offered to study with Max sometime and even loan one of her science books she read while traveling. 

The bell rang signaling the end of class. It was now lunch time and everyone had hurried out the door. Ashlyn waited for Marinette as she put her stuff away into her bag. 

Adrien walked up to their desk again along with Lila beside him. "Ashlyn, our ride is here to take us home for lunch. You ready?" 

"Actually, I'm going to have lunch over at Marinette's."

Adrien's eyes widened at her in surprise. "Ash, father is expecting us both at home."

She took out her phone and showed him the text messages between her and Nathalie.

_Please tell father I won't be home for lunch. I have a group project to work on with a few classmates._

_Alright, I'll let him know right away. Should we drop you lunch when we go to pick up Adrien then?_

_Yes, that's fine. Thank you, Nathalie._

_You're welcome._

Adrien looked up at her in disbelief. "You _lied _to Nathalie? Ash, that was wr-"

"What?" Ashlyn snapped her head over at her brother. "That was a _wrong_ thing to do?"

"Yes! You can't just lie to our father like that or Nathalie for that matter." He scolded.

"It's not like it's _hurting_ anyone." She said which made Adrien startled. 

"Ash, maybe you should listen to Ad-" Lila started but was interrupted by Ashlyn shooting her a glare.

"My _friends _call me Ash. And you? You're obviously not my friend." She scowled.

"Ash! She was just trying to-"

"Shut up." 

Adrien's eyes widened at his sister. She glared at him to the point it sent shivers down his spine. Her glare had pierced through him like a knife. She was... mad at him. 

"You're pathetic, Adrien..." She mumbled under her breath as she made her way out the class with Marinette chasing after her leaving an upset Adrien alone with Lila.

Ashlyn was not the type of person to get mad over something so little. She was never the type to get mad at all. She was very forgiving and always chose to look past things. 

_But not this time._

Was he... the one who made her upset? Was it really all his fault? They've only fought once and that was when they were kids. Afterwards, they never fought again. They were like two pods with peas... or at least that's what Ashlyn would say. He furrowed his eyebrows as he sadly made his way out class. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Lila. He had forgotten she was there with him.

"Adrien, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to get in the way of you and your sister..."

At that moment, Adrien looked past the lies. He softly smiled, "it's fine... I could really use a friend though." He said.

Lila smiled at him and nodded her head as she made her way out of the school with him. They spotted Ashlyn standing with Marinette waiting for Nathalie to drop her lunch. Adrien averted his eyes away from his sister.

"If you ask me, it's probably Marinette's fault. I mean... did you see the way she was defending Marinette?"

Adrien knew that was a lie. He knew that everything she was saying was a lie. Marinette would never say anything about him to Ashlyn. He knew she wouldn't. Instead of responding, he simply shrugged it off. 

After awhile, Nathalie arrived with a bento box for Ashlyn. She spotted Adrien waiting on the staircase and waved at him to hurry. The boy made his way down with Lila beside him earning a few glares from Ashlyn. 

"Adrien, what-"

"I wanted her to come." He said sternly as he looked over at Ashlyn and Marinette.

Instead of saying anything to her brother, Ashlyn turned on her heel and left with Marinette beside her. The blunette stared at them with sadness in her eyes and turned away. 

* * *

Ashlyn hasn’t said a word since she came over to Marinette’s place. She barely ate her food and she didn’t look like she even wanted to talk.   
  
Marinette furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at her plate. “I’m sorry... This is all my fault.”

Ashlyn looked up at Marinette and smiled over at her. “You’re always saying that.”

“Because it’s true.” She sighed. “I told you that you should’ve sat somewhere else. I just make a mess of everything.” She cried as she placed her hands over her face.

Ashlyn chuckled at her as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “No. I’m glad I met you, Marinette. It’s just that I’m pretty disappointed in Adrien. I mean, he only invited Lila over to tick me off.” 

Marinette looked down at her plate sadly.

_”I wanted her to come.”_

Did he really want Lila to eat lunch with him? Or was he really just doing that to make his sister mad. Or... did he just want to hurt Marinette more? 

“You alright, Marinette?” Ashlyn asked.

”Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. I just... Well-“ Before she could finish her sentence they both heard a loud crash and looked outside to see a man in a bird suit standing on top a flock of pigeons. 

Marinette groaned, “not again...”

”Um, who is that?” Ashlyn asked, a bit disturbed by the sight.

”Mr. Pigeon... an akumatized victim that’s been defeated over and over so many times.” She sighed.

”Well, aren’t you going to transform and stop him?” Ashlyn asked.

Marinette widened her eyes at her and sighed as she turned away from her. “Listen Ash, you weren’t supposed to find out my identity. I don’t know how you did but, it could really put you in danger.”

Ashlyn smiled as she grabbed her bag from the floor. “Yeah, I know. I’ve read some hero stuff. I’ll just find someplace to hide then, okay?” 

Marinette smiled and nodded her head. “That’ll put my mind at ease.” 

Ashlyn then walked out of the bakery and ran towards a nearby alleyway to transform. After doing so, she looked around for any sign of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

After awhile, she spotted them and watched as they continued to fight Mr. Pigeon. But they seem to be having a hard time. He probably got better after every defeat. Ashlyn chuckled as she waited for the perfect time to make her appearance.

”Lucky charm!” Ladybug called out as she flung her yo-yo into the air. A bag of bird seeds appeared and dropped onto her hand. She blinked at it a few times then looked over at the pigeons who were now eyeing the bag in her hands. “Uh oh.” She said as the swarm of pigeons started flying towards her.

”Ladybug!” Chat Noir shouted.

_Perfect_.   
  
Before the pigeons could attack her, Tiger Lily had moved her out the way surprising both Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

“Maybe try to get out of harms way next time, Wonderbug.” She winked.

Chat Noir stood beside Ladybug looking at the new super heroine in front of them.   
  
“Who are you?” He asked.

”The name’s Tiger Lily, Kitty Noir.” She smirked as she saw Chat Noir scrunch his nose up at her in annoyance.   
  
“It’s Chat Noir for your information.” He hissed.

All Ladybug could do was stare at the super heroine in shock. Who was she? Where did she come from? Was this another one of Hawkmoth’s akumatized victims that wanted to be a superhero? 

“So we gonna fight the pigeon guy or what?” Tiger Lily asked, snapping Ladybug out of her thoughts.

”What makes you think you’re helping us?” Chat Noir asked. 

“Other than the fact I happened to be passing by and watch you guys struggle?” She smiled at that making Chat Noir even more annoyed.

”Well, it’s up for Ladybug to decide.” Chat Noir said. “M’lady?”

Ladybug thought about it for awhile. It was true, Chat Noir and her were struggling with Mr. Pigeon today. Had he gotten better? Smarter? Or was it the fact that she was just way off today? Either way, she knew that Chat Noir and her needed help. 

“Um, yeah. You can help.” She said as she began swinging her yo-yo.

”What!?” Chat Noir asked in shock while Tiger Lily jumped in excitement. “M’lady you can’t be-“

”No time to argue, Chat. We can sort all of this out later.” 

And with that, the trio of heroes began fighting with Mr. Pigeon until he was finally deakumtized. 

* * *

"Awesome work, Wonderbug and Kitty Noir." Tiger Lily winked.

"It's Ladybug and Chat Noir." Chat said in annoyance.

Ladybug furrowed her eyebrows at the super heroine. The thought of her being another akumatized victim was still on her mind. But, that was impossible. He wouldn't have been able to akumatized two people unless he were Scarlet Moth again. 

"Who are you?" Chat Noir asked her.

"Like I said, I'm Tiger Lily. I'm a miraculous holder just like you two." She smiled.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at her. "How do we know you're not just some akumatized victim that wanted to play hero?" 

Tiger Lily smirked at the two of them as she held out her left hand to the two heroes. They looked at her hand to see a Panjas bracelet then looked back up at the striped heroine. "If you really think I'm some akumatized victim, then go ahead and take my miraculous."

Ladybug looked back down at the bracelet then back up at Tiger Lily. She's seen this miraculous before from the grimoire Master Fu showed her. The miraculous that Tiger Lily was holding is obviously the tiger miraculous. She hesitated to take the jewel off her wrist. She decided that she couldn't do it. "I believe you."

"What!? Ladybug-" 

Chat Noir was cut off by the sound of her earrings and his ring beeping which meant they were going to transform back soon. She looked over at Chat Noir with furrowed eyebrows as she took out her yo-yo and began spinning it. "Sorry Kitty, we'll talk more on this later. As for you Tiger Lily, you should lay low for a bit. It'll be a bit suspicious seeing a new super heroine. Bug out!" She said as she swung away.

Chat Noir looked over at Tiger Lily who had a smug look on her face. He shot her a glare as he took out his baton and began to leap away as well.

Tiger Lily smiled, "see you soon, big bro." 


	6. Protect me? Or our reputation?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien talks with Marinette.  
Ashlyn meet Kagami.

Marinette had made her way back into her room and detransformed. She thought about the new superhero - Tiger Lily. 

"Did Master Fu lose more than just the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous?" She uttered. 

Tikki flew to her chosen and shook her head at her, "no, I doubt he did. The butterfly and peacock were the only ones that were lost."

Marinette started pondering, "so, it's possible that he gave a miraculous to someone?" 

Tikki nodded her head. "It could be. Maybe we should ask Master Fu about it." 

Marinette nodded her head in agreement as she grabbed her school bag and went outside her house. She then remembered about Ashlyn and wondered if she had actually hidden somewhere safe. She took out her phone and decided to give her a call. After a few rings, it automatically sent her to voicemail. 

"Hm... Maybe she's back at home?"

"Marinette." She heard a voice call out to her as she looked up to see Adrien. 

She averted her eyes, "yes, Adrien?"

"Um... Can we talk?" He asked her.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked over at him. Had he come to apologize to her? Say that he was wrong? She nodded her head at him as they both walked to the park and sat on one of the benches. They were both silent. None of them spoke a word to each other and the only sound that could be heard was the leaves rustling in the wind. 

Adrien sighed, "Marinette, I... I just want to say..."

Marinette had thought he would apologize for earlier. Marinette thought he would tell her that he was wrong for siding with Lila. But no, _she_ was wrong.

"I want you to stop hanging around my sister..." 

Marinette's eyes widened in shock. 

“What?” She muttered.

Adrien looked over at her, “I’m serious, Marientte. Ash... Ash just came back to Paris and the last thing I want is her getting in trouble because of you.” 

Marinette couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What makes you think I like getting into trouble? Do you think I do it on purpose? For fun?” She said angrily. “Lila is literally the one getting me into the trouble and you know that! You know that, Adrien!”

”But what have you been doing, Marinette? You didn’t exactly listen to me about taking the high road. Her lies aren’t hurting anyone Marinette!”

”No offense...” She said as she got up from the bench, “but that was terrible advice.” She didn’t turn to face him. She didn’t want him to see her cry. “She _is_ hurting someone, you’re just too blind to see that.” 

Marinette walked away without another word. Adrien watched as she did and sighed. He felt Plagg fly out of his shirt pocket to look at him in disappointment.

”What?” 

”You really messed up, kid.” He said with crossed arms. 

“With Marinette?” Adrien sighed. “Come on, Plagg. You know Lila’s lies aren’t hurting anyone. She’s just lonely and wants to make friends.”

Plagg sighed. His owner was ridiculous and ignorant. Could he really not see how the brunette’s lies were hurting Marinette? Plagg has come to actually like Marinette after the whole Style Queen incident. He knew how much she cared about Tikki and that she was a great Ladybug. The Ladybug that Adrien fell in love with. 

He shook his head at the blonde, “well, you’ll end up losing more than just Marinette for sure.” 

“What are you talking about?” He asked.

”Nothing, kid.” Plagg replies as he flew into his chosen’s shirt pocket. Adrien furrowed his eyebrows at his Kwami as he got up and walked back to school. 

* * *

Ashlyn made her back to school and saw Marinette making her way up towards the entrance. She smiled as she ran up to her. "Marinette! Hey!"

Marinette turned around to see Ashlyn running up to her, she let out a small smile, "Ash, hey..."

The blonde looked at her worriedly. "You okay, Marinette? Did something happen?" She asked. 

Marinette looked up at Ashlyn and saw Adrien walking up to them. She furrowed her eyebrows then looked up at Ashlyn. "Your... Your brother is right. You should stay away from me. I'll only get you into trouble." She said.

"What? What are you saying? Did Adrien say something to you?" Ashlyn asked.

"I'm sorry, Ash. But... I don't want you getting into trouble because of me. You have a reputation to keep and it's best if you just didn't hang out with me anymore. Goodbye." And with that, Marinette walked away leaving Ashlyn in disbelief. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Adrien who gave her a concerned look.

"Ash..."

"This is your fault." 

He sighed, "I was doing it to protect you."

"Protect me? Or our reputation?" She scowled.

“Ash, you know that I—“

”Shut up, Adrien. Do me a favor and stay out of my life.” She said angrily as she walked away from her brother.

Adrien watched as his sister walked away from him. Plagg peeked out of his shirt pocket and shook his head at his chosen. “I told you so, kid. You’ll end up losing more than just Marinette.” 

“Ash is just being dramatic. She’ll get over it.” He said.

Plagg sighed as he went back into the boy’s shirt pocket. “You’ll end up losing me too if you don’t open up your eyes and start seeing the truth.” He whispered to himself. 

***

Ashlyn couldn’t find Marinette anymore. Not in any of their classes, not the library, or even the art room. She must be really trying to avoid her after what Adrien had said. What did he even tell her? She sighed at the thought. She didn't care about her brother anymore. All she wanted was to find Marinette and fix their friendship. 

She heard her alarm go off for her fencing lesson and sighed. 

“Were you able to find her?” Roaar asked, peeking out of her bag.

”No. She probably went home. I’ll just talk to her after school.” She said as she made her way into the locker rooms to change into her fencing gear.

Thankfully, her father had made the decision to give Adrien and her different schedules. She didn’t think she could handle Adrien having the same fencing lesson as her. She’d most likely hurt him if he were. 

She placed her bag into her locker giving Roaar a small smile as she gave him her phone to entertain himself. She then closed her locker and made her way out while she put on her helmet.

”Tsurugi, give Agreste a good match.” Mr. D’Argencourt called out. 

_Wonder who’s Tsurugi? _Ashlyn thought as she looked around for her opponent. 

“Ready to get your butt kicked again?” Ashlyn turned around to see a fencer with full red gear. She tilted her head in confusion at her opponent. Had she fenced against them before? She wouldn’t remember. 

She shrugged her shoulders as she held out her saber to her opponent. 

“Oh, not talking today huh? You’ll be crying once I beat you.” Her opponent laughed as they held out their saber towards her.

On D’Argencourt’s count, the two went at it giving it their best. The fencer with red gear was impressed with their opponent, they were at their best today, no, beyond their best! 

The red geared fencer got distracted and didn’t notice that they were poked in the chest by by their opponent‘s saber. She looked up at them through their helmet and smirked. 

“Point, Agreste!” D’Argencourt called out as he walked over to a different pair of fencers.

”Congratulations.” The red feared fencer smiled as she took off her helmet to reveal a girl with short blue hair. “You went beyond your best today.” 

Ashlyn took off her helmet to look over at the girl and smile lightly at her. “Thanks.” 

This caused the blue haired girl to look at her in shock. “Y-You’re not... You’re not Adrien!”

”Um... No, I’m Ashlyn. His sister.” Ashlyn replied casually.

The girl blinked at the blonde and mentally smacked her head. She’s an idiot. How could she forget? Adrien had told her that his sister would be taking his schedule from now on. “Ah... He told me about you.” She chuckled. “I’m Kagami. Kagami Tsurugi.” 

"It's nice to meet you. I'm guessing you've fenced with my brother before?" Ashlyn asked.

Kagami nodded at her, "a lot of times."

Ashlyn smiled, "I see. Your style of fencing is really unique and beautiful. I've never seen someone with that much grace in fencing." 

Kagami's eyes widened and she felt her face turning a shade of red. "U-Uh, um... T-Thank you, Ashlyn."

"Call me Ash." She winked. "I hope to learn more from you, Kagami." And with that, she walked towards a different fencer to fence with them. Kagami looked over at the girl, a blush still painted on her cheeks. _W-What is happening with me!?_


	7. Ashlyn vs Lila

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashlyn talks with Lila

After her fencing lesson ended, Ashlyn made her way into the locker rooms to change back into her clothes. She stuffed her fencing gear away into her duffle bag only to be greeted by a disgusted Roaar. 

"Blegh! Do you have to stuff your dirty fencing clothes while I'm inside? I'm not Plagg, you know!" He complained.

Ashlyn laughed at the kwami as she closed her locker. "Sorry, Roaar." 

Roaar flew into her shirt pocket as Ashlyn made her way out the locker rooms and started walking towards class and since Marinette wasn't here, she'd have to sit alone. She only hoped her brother wouldn't bother her or even think of sitting next to her. She was definitely in no mood to talk with him after what he did. She got into the classroom and ignored her brother and everyone else who was giving her stares. She heard them murmuring something about Marinette again and started to get irritated. Before she could say anything, Chloe had slammed her hands on the table, grabbed her purse, and made her way towards Ashlyn's desk. 

Everyone else had shut up and gave the blonde stares as they then started murmuring about Chloe.

"Don't want Dupain-Cheng stealing all the spotlight now, do I?" The blonde said as she looked down at her nails and admired them.

Ashlyn smiled at her. While she knew that Chloe _did _enjoy the spotlight. She also knew this was her way of defending her friends. "That's real nice of you, Chloe."

Chloe let out a disgusted groan, "ugh, it's not like I wanted anything to do with her. Dupain-Cheng should at least grow a backbone or two and start standing up to these losers." 

Ashlyn let out a smile as she turned her attention back to the front of the class. She took a glance at Adrien and noticed him looking down at his notes sadly while Lila caressed his shoulder with a devious smile on her lips. She saw how Adrien flinched at the touch and tried his best to shrug her off. In a way, Ashlyn felt sorry for him but it didn't mean that she was going to talk to him about it. He got himself into that Lila mess, he might as well get himself out. 

Their teacher finally came into class and instructed everyone to read chapter 7 in their history books before they go over it. She could hear Lila in the front giggling about something to Adrien. It continued on for a few minutes until Ashlyn finally slammed her hand on the table and stood up from her seat surprising everyone in class - including Chloe.

"Is there a problem, Miss Agreste?" Mr. Audibert, their history teacher, asked.

"Yes, there is a problem. How can I concentrate when all I hear is Miss Rossi giggling up in the front?"

Mr. Audibert shot a glance at Lila and adjusted his glasses. "That is a problem. Miss Rossi, if you can't control yourself around Mister Agreste, I will be forced to change your seat."

Lila looked down at her textbook in embarrassment, "s-sorry, Mr. Audibert."

Ashlyn shot her a glare before sitting back down in her seat to continue reading. She felt Chloe nudge her elbow but kept on reading.

"Nice one." She heard the mayor's daughter whisper. 

Ashlyn smiled to herself as she turned a page in her textbook. 

Messing with her friends was one thing, but Lila Rossi should know to _never _bother Ashlyn during her classes as she took them very seriously. 

* * *

The bell rang signaling the end of class and it was now time for everyone to go home. Chloe had bid Ashlyn goodbye and already made her way outside to wait for her limo while Ashlyn stayed behind copying the last of the notes for Marinette. Once she was finished, she stuffed her notebook away into her bag and made her way outside. She saw Lila waiting for her but ignored her as she kept on walking.

"Ash! Ash, wait!" She cried as she ran after her.

Ashlyn turned around to look at the girl in annoyance. "I told you. My friends call me Ash and you-"

"-are not a friend. Yes, I'm sorry." Lila apologized. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for causing a disturbance in class. If there's ANYTHING I can do to make it up to you, please let me know." She smiled sweetly, it was sickening.

"You want to make it up to me?" Ashlyn asked her.

"Yes, of course."

"Okay. Stay the _hell _away from me." And with that, Ashlyn turned and left leaving Lila in shock. 

It was the first time she ever let out her anger like that to someone. Of course, she got angry with Adrien, but he was lucky he was her brother. Lila was different. She wasn't someone Ash wanted to associate with. She _hated _liars and Adrien knew that but he still bothered to be friends with Lila.   
  
Did he really forget what happened before? Did he really not remember their so called “friends" from when they were kids?

***

_Ashlyn and Adrien - both 7 years old - were playing with some kids at a charity gala their father and mother attended at the Le Grand Palais Hotel. Since the gala was held downstairs, the kids were all in one bedroom that was already filled with food and drinks to accommodate them. Chloe and Felix were part of the group of kids but they didn't bother playing together so they simply sat down and watched TV while the rest of the kids played._

_"Hey guys, let's play hide-and-seek!" Ashlyn smiled._

_"Yeah, it'll be fun!" One of the kids said excitedly. _

_So that's what they did, they ended up playing hide-and-seek in the hotel room. Although it didn't work out in the end because there was barely and places to hide. They ended up sitting on the floor eating snacks with each other and talking about what they should do. Just as Ashlyn was talking with Adrien, one of the kids had thrown them some chips. Ashlyn looked at them annoyed._

_"Guys, we were told by our parents that we would keep this room clean."_

_The kid that had thrown the chips at Ashlyn rolled their eyes and groaned, "it's not like they're here now anyway."_

_"Yeah, but we promised-" Before Adrien could finish his sentence, he had chips thrown into his face by another kid which caused laughter among the others except for Ashlyn. _

_"That wasn't funny!" Ashlyn shouted as she began to help Adrien pick up the chips and set them back in the bowl. She then felt a pretzel thrown at her and looked up to see the kids laughing again. "Guys, seriously! It's not funny. Now help us clean." _

_"Hmm..." One of the kids thought about it for a bit. "Nah!" The other kids began laughing as they started throwing food at each other while Ashlyn and Adrien tried to stop the commotion. Chloe and Felix, noticing the other kids throwing food at each other, joined in to help Ashlyn and Adrien. _

_"You guys stop it!!! We promised to keep this place clean!" Chloe shouted._

_"Disgusting beings, all of you!" Felix said angrily._

_The other children continued laughing as they threw food at one another. They stopped when they heard a knock on the door and it opened up to reveal Gabriel and Emilie Agreste with the other parents behind them. "What happened in here!? Didn't we tell you children to keep the room clean?" One parent shouted._

_"I-It wasn't us, Mama. It was... It was Ashlyn! She started the food fight!" The child of said parent lied._

_"Wha- I didn't!" Ashlyn said defensively._

_"She's lying Mama! We told her to stop but she wouldn't!" Another kid shouted._

_"But I was the one telling you guys to stop!" Ashlyn yelled. _

_"Stop lying, Ash!"_

_"Yeah! You just don't want to get in trouble!" _

_In the end, Ashlyn never got into trouble with her parents. They knew she would never start something like that for whatever reason nor would she ever lie. That was the day Ashlyn swore to never associate herself with liars. Never again. _

***

Ashlyn walked out of the school to see Adrien waiting for their limo. He waved over at her but she simply ignored him as she made her way across the street to Marinette's house. 

Adrien watched as she did and furrowed his eyebrows at her. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see Nino giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it, dude. Your sister will realize the truth about Marinette soon enough." 

Adrien gave him a small smile as he looked down at the ground. Adrien could clearly see how much Marinette meant to Ashlyn. Maybe he went a little too far? No. This is for the sake of his sister and her reputation. He couldn't let Ashlyn get into trouble only to have her kicked out of school. He felt his heart drop.

No...

Ashlyn doesn't care about her reputation. She never did. She never used her status to gain popularity like Chloe. It was also the same with Marinette. She had many connections like Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale but she never once used them to make herself popular. She did that by hard work and hard work alone only to have it crumble under Lila. He admits... He does feel a little bad for how he treated the designer but she also broke a promise with him. He heard a honk and looked up to see his limo. He waved goodbye to Nino and made his way towards Nathalie who waited outside the car.

"Adrien, where's Ashlyn? You both have a scheduled photo shoot together."

Adrien took a glance at Marinette's bakery then back at Nathalie. He knew that Ashlyn went over to talk with Marinette but should he really tell Nathalie that? He looked around trying to come up with something until he heard a voice behind him.

"Ashlyn said she had a last minute project to work on and said I should take her place. We _are _good friends after all." Adrien knew that voice all too well. He turned around to see Lila smiling at him. Nathalie raised an eyebrow at her in suspicion. 

"I was unaware of this. But anyway, this photo shoot is _very _important to Gabriel and he wants only Ashlyn and Adrien in it for the debut of Ashlyn's return article." Nathalie informed her.

"Oh yes, I understand. But, I am also Gabriel's new muse and I'm also a good friend of Ashlyn. So I could probably just take a couple of shots until she makes it to the shoot?" Lila smiled as she batted her eyelashes at the assistant.

Nathalie knew this was risky. But she knew that it was something that would most likely please Gabriel and help him to accomplish his dream. She simply nodded her head at the brunette as they all made their way into the car. Once they had made it to the location of the photo shoot, Nathalie, Adrien, and Lila all got down together while Gorilla drove back to Agreste Mansion to wait for the photo shoot to be done.

While Lila and Adrien got ready for the first few shots. Nathalie had dialed Gabriel's number. After a few rings, he finally picked up his phone.

"Yes, Nathalie?"

"I think you'll be able to use today's photo shoot to akumatize a very special person today." Nathalie informed.

Gabriel smirked over the phone, "excellent."


	8. Another friend lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila and Adrien attend a photoshoot.  
Someone gets akumatized.  
Nino is a good boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Haven't had any ideas lately and well... yeah been busy as well.

Ashlyn made her way into the Dupain-Cheng bakery and was greeted by Marinette's mother. She smiled at the woman as she made her way up to the counter and bowed at her.

"Oh, dear please. You don't need to bow. It's not like I'm royalty or anything." Sabine chuckled.

Ashlyn smiled at her, "sorry, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng. I was just wondering if Marinette's home?" 

"Please call me Sabine. Marinette is up in her room but... she's not really in any mood to talk with anyone..." Her mother said sadly. 

Ashlyn furrowed her eyebrows at the woman. She saw how sad she looked for her daughter. She could tell how much she really cared for Marinette. Ashlyn looked up at the woman and smiled at her, "I'd like to try, please."

Sabine frowned at the blonde unsure whether to respect her daughters wishes of wanting to be alone. But as she looked at Ashlyn, she could see sincerity in her eyes. Something Marinette had lacked from her friends since Lila came back. Finally, Sabine smiled as she led Ashlyn up to Marinette's room and knocked on her daughter's trapped door. "I'll go prepare some tea for you both." The woman smiled as she made her back downstairs while Ashlyn opened up the trapdoor to Marinette's room and made her way inside.

"Marinette?" She looked around and noticed the girl on her bed with the covers on top of her head. She chuckled as she made her way up the ladder and pulled the sheets off the girl, startling her in the process.

"Ashlyn!? You can't just-!"

"Yeah, yeah. Get mad at me later but right now, we need to talk." Ashlyn replied as she threw the blanket onto her chaise.

"About what?" Marinette said as she got up from her bed but avoided eye contact with the blonde girl in front of her.

"I don't care what Adrien said to you about my reputation and stuff. I don't care about that, alright? Even if you _did _ruin my reputation, which I know you wouldn't. I'd still choose to be your friend." Ashlyn explained. The midnight haired girl still refusing to look her in the eyes. "Marinette, you're my first real friend. I know I don't really know you that well, but I can tell that you're someone trustworthy."

The midnight girl felt like she could cry. 

_"You're my first real friend."_

She remembered those words from another blonde herself. Someone who she considered a friend too. Someone who she _thought _she could trust. She felt a tear stream down her face, remembering all the good times she had with _him. _How did it all go wrong? Yes, she loved the boy but she didn't think he'd turn on her so easily. 

"Marinette?" She thought she heard his voice but instead looked up to see his sister - Ashlyn.

How was she so different from Adrien? Were they actually siblings? Marinette mentally smacked herself in the face. Of course they were, just look at their faces!!! They were twins after all.

Marinette sighed as she let out a small smile, "I'm sorry, Ashlyn. It's just... with all that's been happening lately with my fri-" she cleared her throat, "_former _friends... I didn't want to hurt anyone else." 

Ashlyn looked up at the girl with a worried look on her face, "that's not your fault. None of it was." 

Marinette got down from her bed and sat at her desk and opened up a drawer. She pulled out some notes and handed them over to Ashlyn for her to read.

"What's this?" The blonde asked.

"Read them..." Marinette said sadly as she looked over at her monitor.

Ashlyn went to sit down at the chaise as she placed a few of the notes on her lap while she opened one of them up. She looked down at the note in shock and horror as she read through all of them. 

_Kill yourself, bully._

_You're such a jealous bxxxx! Can't believe we ever trusted you._

_Sxxx._

_Stalker._

_I can't believe I ever called you my best friend._

The last one made Ashlyn's blood boil in anger... She knew who wrote that. It was Alya, the one who ran the Ladyblog.

She tossed the letters aside as she walked up to Marinette who stared up at her monitor. "Marinette-" She stopped as she looked up at the monitor in horror then down at Marinette who said nothing - a tear making its way down her cheek. Her browser was opened up on the Ladyblog page and the newest post made Ashlyn want to smash the monitor.

_LADYBLOGGERS!!! Guess who I just caught having ANOTHER photo shoot at the Eiffel Tower today? That's right! Paris' hottest couple, Lila Rossi and Adrien Agreste. _

The _amateur _journalist had taken a picture of Lila and Adrien posing like a couple at the Eiffel Tower today. It was the photo shoot that Ashlyn was supposed to attend with Adrien. The one photo shoot that she was actually looking forward to since she came back and Adrien knew that. But, here he was posing with Lila. What upset Ashlyn the most was Marinette and how hurt she looked by just looking over at the photo. Ashlyn furrowed her eyebrows at the midnight haired girl as she placed a hand on her shoulder. 

"Marinette..." The blonde said worriedly.

Marinette didn't say anything. She continued to cry silently. 

_Paris hottest couple... _

She remembered a time when Alya would help her out with Adrien. How she'd push her into confessing her feelings for him. She remembered all the times she'd set up a "double date" and purposely leave the two alone to hang out with each other.   
She especially remembered a time where she had a best friend... someone who she could tell everything to - aside from her secret identity. She remembered a time when her and her friends would all hang out together and just have fun with each other. 

_They're gone._

_They left you._

_They think you're a bully. A liar. _

Marinette felt her shoulders tense up, she couldn't hear anything but her own negative thoughts consuming her. 

Everyone had pushed her around for the last time. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had finally had enough. 

Before she knew it, she heard a voice speak...

_"Princess Justice, I am Hawkmoth..."_

She could hear faint shouting from Ashlyn telling her to be strong and that there would be a solution. She felt hot tears stream down her cheeks as she took off her earrings and placed them into Ashlyn's hand. She furrowed her eyebrows at the girl. "I... I'm sorry, Ashlyn... Please, run away to safety. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you." She cried.

Ashlyn furrowed her eyebrows at her as she heard Marinette mutter a final apology as her negatives thoughts consumed her and she finally became akumatized. "They will all be brought to justice, Hawkmoth."

Ashlyn felt her heart drop at the sound of Marinette's voice - No, that wasn't her anymore. It was another victim who had fallen short to Hawkmoth. Instead of saying anything else, she ran out of Marinette's room and made her way to the back door. She knew she had to transform soon and save Marinette. 

"Roaar-"

"Wait!" 

Ashlyn's eyes widened at the sound of a small voice as she looked down at the earrings and saw a tiny Ladybug Kwami. "I'm assuming you're Ladybug's Kwami?" She asked as the small red being floated up in front of her with a surprised look on its face.

"How... How do you know about Kwamis?" It asked.

Ashlyn let out a small smile as she patted her shirt pocket, signaling for Roaar to fly out of it and greet Tikki. 

Tikki's eyes widened at Roaar in shock. "R-Roaar!? She's your owner!? So that means..." She gasped, "you're Tiger Lily!" 

Ashlyn nodded her head at her, "we need to get to Master Fu's before Marinette hurts anyone. Roaar, transform me." She said as Roaar got sucked into the Panjas bracelet and turned her into Tiger Lily. "Come on, Tikki."

"Wait!" The red kwami shouted.

"What's wrong?" Tiger Lily asked.

Tikki looked down at the ground sadly as a tear made its way down her cheek. Tiger Lily knew then and there what she was thinking about. She was worried that because Marinette was akumatized, Master Fu would have to take back the Ladybug earrings. She saw how much Tikki cared about her owner, no, her friend. Tiger Lily let out a reassuring smile as she nuzzled the little Kwami with her finger. "You don't have to worry about the earrings being taken away from Marinette. We'll save her, I promise."

Tikki looked up at Ashlyn with a genuine smile, "thank you, Ash- I mean, Tiger Lily."

Ashlyn nodded at her. "Now come on, we have to get to Master Fu and see what we can do about Marinette." She said as both her and Tikki started making their way to Master Fu.

* * *

"That was a great shoot, wasn't it Adrien?" Lila smiled sweetly. 

Adrien shot her a model smile and looked away sadly. Ashlyn hadn't shown up to the photo shoot at all. He was hoping she would in hopes he'd talk to her. 

_"Protect me? Or our reputation?"_

Those words had never left his mind. Was he really protecting her? Or their reputation? Ever since Ashlyn left to travel for their Father's fashion launch while he stayed back in Paris, he's always been doing what his father says unlike Ashlyn who had the freedom to travel and do anything she wanted out there. Needless to say, even if they were twins, they were both raised differently. Ashlyn having her own freedom meanwhile Adrien was confined to their father's demands. He didn't know what freedom was like until he started public school. 

It was there he found freedom in school and his friends away from his model life. It was there that he made his first real friend... Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

He furrowed his eyebrows at the thought of the midnight haired girl. Was he... Was he wrong to have said what he said to her? 

_"She is hurting someone... you're just too blind to see it."_

He remembered the pain in her eyes, the hurt tone in her voice. She broke their promise, so why was she the one hurt? He looked over at Lila to see Alya had came up her holding up her phone doing an interview for the Ladyblog. 

Alya... He remembered that Marinette and Alya had stopped hanging out with each other. He also saw that Alya took down all the interviews and photos she had posted of Marinette and replaced them with interviews and photos of Lila. There's barely anything about Ladybug too. It was just interviews of Lila telling them about their friendship. Some of Alya's viewers were disappointed and had unsubscribed from the Ladyblog because of it becoming a 'tabloid.' 

He remembered one comment that said:

_"This so called Ladyblog has become nothing more than some lifestyle blog. It isn't even about Ladybug anymore, only her so called "best friend." Why would this Lila girl even mention being best friends with Ladybug? She does know that makes her a target for Hawkmoth, right? Something tells me that she isn't really friends with Ladybug and she's just exploiting that to gain popularity."_

The comment had gotten 1.7k likes and 1.2k replies. Half of them agreeing on the statement while others seeing this as an offense.

Alya had deleted it but it didn't stop others from commenting about the Ladybug becoming a tabloid and a 'trash' blog. 

He watched as the two girls talk and saw Nino coming up to him. "Hey dude." The DJ greeted.

"Hey." Adrien said giving him a small smile.

"You alright?" He asked.

Adrien nodded at him and let out a sigh. "Actually, no..." 

"What's up?" Nino asked as he sat in Lila's chair and looked at the blonde with concern in his eyes.

"It's just that... I kinda went off on Marinette."

Nino raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything. He let the blonde continue what he has to say.

Adrien sighed, "I told her to stay away from Ashlyn because I didn't want her getting my sister into trouble because of her. She also broke a promise we made and well... yeah, we're not talking as of now." He explained - leaving what they promised out of the story.

Nino didn't say anything, he simply looked at the blonde with no emotion. The two were silent for a while.

"Nino, um, a little input here?" The blonde asked - breaking the silence.

Nino sighed as he titled his cap down and shook his head at the blonde. "You were wrong for doing that."

"What? Why? She was the one who broke a promise-"

"Yeah? And so what? It doesn't give you the right to go and tell her to stay away from Ashlyn? What was the promise even about?" He asked - a distasteful tone in his voice.

Adrien gulped nervously. He's never heard Nino sound so angry before.

"You either tell me now or I walk away from you forever." He threatened.

Adrien's eyes widened at him and remembered the words Plagg had told him after his talk with Marinette. 

_"You'll end up losing more than Marinette for sure."_

Adrien wouldn't know what to do if he lost Nino as his friend. Nino rolled his eyes and shook his head at the blonde as he got out of his seat - getting ready to walk away from him. 

"We promised we'd take the high road instead of trying to expose Lila." The blonde blurted out. He was lucky that Lila and Alya couldn't hear them over their chat. 

Nino turned to face Adrien, "Adrien..."

Adrien thought that he'd let it go because he knew that Nino believed Lila's lies. Maybe he would forget about it and just move on and everything would be okay. But, sadly that didn't happen. What Adrien didn't expect was for Nino to shoot him a look of disappointment. What shocked Adrien the most was what he said.

"you knew she was lying and you just let her?" 

"Wait... Nino, you... you knew, too?"

"Dude, I figured it out when she said she'd hook me up with Steven Spielberg. Do you remember that video contest I entered? The one he hosted? Lila told me she'd tell him about me and get me a meeting with him." There was disappointment in his voice. Hurt and disappointment. "Dude, I never got the meeting. Every time I mentioned it to Lila, she'd either say he's too busy or she'd avoid the question. I waited and waited for that opportunity to come but it never came. I was... hurt. I then remembered what Marinette said about Lila being a liar... That's how I knew. I apologized to her and she said she's sorry for that happening to me but she won't forgive me, not yet at least. So, as of now I'm trying to earn her trust back."

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows at him, "but, Nino... exposing Lila for being liar will only result-"

"-in her getting akumatized?" Nino finished for him which surprised Adrien. "Yeah, I know. But have you ever thought about Marinette? What if she got akumatized? You said she's our Everyday Ladybug Adrien but even Marinette has her limits. You can't expect her to keep putting on a smile every time something bad happens to her. You telling her to take the high road is one of most stupidest things you could ever tell her." He said.

"Nino, I-"

"I'm sorry, dude."

Adrien's eyes widened in horror at what was happening. _No... Please..._

"But I can't be friends with someone who thinks it's okay for someone else to get hurt by another's lies. Good-bye." And with that... Nino walked away from Adrien. Not once looking back at him to see the sadness and shock in his eyes.

Plagg peeked out of Adrien's shirt pocket, "what did I tell you, kid? You'd lose more than just Marinette." 


	9. Where is Ladybug?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Justice attacks!  
Where is Ladybug?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not good at writing battles. I'm still trying to improve on that :((

Adrien sat in his chair with a downcast look on his face. 

He had lost another one of his best friends. He had watched as Nino walked away from him, their friendship fallen apart just like that. Plagg didn't even say anything to comfort him other than saying that he had it coming. Adrien felt sick to his stomach that he didn't even want to do the photo shoot anymore. Even when Lila walked up to him he felt just as sick. Could he really put the blame on her? Maybe not entirely. 

The girl may lie, but she's not hurting anyone... right?

If that was true, then why did Nino end their friendship?

"Adrien, Vincent wants us ready for the next shots." Lila smiled sweetly. 

He felt like he wanted to hurl. "Be right there-"

_BOOOOOM. _

The set had come crashing and falling apart and there stood a girl dressed in white with a small crown upon her head. Her eyes were yellow which really stood out from the rest of her. Her skin was pale and her hair was white. There was small glitter upon it. Resting at the side of her hips was a small handbag that Adrien immediately recognized.

"M-Marinette?"

The girl looked over at him. Piercing yellow eyes staring into horrified green ones. "Not quite." Her voice was sinister yet calm that even Lila felt chills runs down her spine at the sound of it. 

Alya soon came running up and began filming everything. "Marinette!? Girl, you actually got akumatized!? I mean, I knew it was possible but I didn't think you'd get akumatized over jea-" 

Before Alya could finish her sentence, Princess Justice shut her up by simply snapping her fingers. "Alya Cesaire, Amateur journalist, devoted to Ladybug, a _pet_."

Alya looked at the girl in shock and anger.

"You're nothing but a dog. A stray dog following only what's interesting to you. Tell me, Cesaire... Was I actually your friend or just someone who meant nothing to you when someone new and interesting came along?" Princess Justice asked, her yellow eyes piercing through Alya like a dagger. The journalists felt herself getting scared. She wanted to scream up at the girl but nothing came out.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Did you want to say something?"

Alya looked at her angrily as she tried to scream at the girl. 

Princess Justice only looked at her with a dull look. "Remember when I wanted to say something but you simply brushed me off?" She snarled. "And you call yourself my _best friend..."_

"Nobody will be your friend unless you keep acting like that!" A voice shouted. All three girls looked over at the now ruined set to see Chat Noir, except he was acting a lot different. He looked tired and angry as if he didn't want to deal with this akuma today. "Never thought I'd see the day you'd get akumatized, Marinette. I thought you were better than this." He scowled.

"That's what everyone always thought, wasn't it? Never once was Marinette asked if she was okay. Never once was Marinette asked if she wanted to talk. No, because it was always Marinette helping everyone." Princess Justice said as she looked down at the ground then slowly looked back up at Chat Noir with a fierce look. "Well not anymore..."

* * *

Ashlyn destransformed as she made her way into Master Fu's home to see him drinking tea with Wayzz. 

"Master," she shouted. "Ladybug's been compromised!"

Master Fu looked up at Ashlyn with fear in his eyes as he felt his heart drop. Yes, he knew of the girl's suffering at school and always tried to help calm her emotions when she stopped by. He never should have underestimated anything. He looked up at Ashlyn and saw Tikki fly out from behind her holding the Ladybug earrings.

"Master, please, don't blame it all on Marinette." The Kwami frowned. He could see how much she really cared for her owner to the point he saw tears streaming down her face. "She's been strong for too long, Master." 

Master Fu sighed, "it's alright, Tikki. Somewhere deep down, I had a feeling this day would come..." He said as he got up from the floor and walked over to his closet.

"Master, what can we do? Without Ladybug, we won't be able to save Marinette." Ashlyn asked worriedly. 

"It's risky but... Maybe you could become Ladybug." Master Fu suggested.

"W-what?" Ashlyn asked in shock.

"You're already familiar with the miraculous. I'm sure you'll know what to do." He told her.

She shook her head at him. "No, Master. I can't use the Ladybug Miraculous." She looked over at Tikki, "I'm sorry, Tikki. If I were to use the Ladybug earrings and show up as a new Ladybug, that would only raise suspicion on her identity and we can't risk that." 

"Then what do you have in mind?" Master Fu asked.

Ashlyn looked over at the Miracle Box for awhile. She's learned about all the miraculouses and it's powers. She's been able to study each and everyone of them. She then smiled brightly as an idea came to mind. "I got it. Master Fu, I'll need to borrow a certain miraculous." 

* * *

Princess Justice attacked Chat Noir, not once holding herself back. But, deep inside the mind of Princess Justice was Marinette's conscious telling herself that this was wrong. All of it. She shouldn't be fighting Chat Noir, she should be helping him. She wanted to stop but her negative emotions were too strong.

_Kitty, I'm so sorry... _

"Stop it, Marinette!" Chat Noir shouted angrily. 

Marinette herself was shocked. Sure, she's seen him angry before but not this angry. He didn't even bother to hold back on attacking her, not caring whether or not she was hurt. He kept swinging at her wanting to land a direct hit on her. 

_Chat Noir..._

"Sorry, did I arrive late to the party?" Both Princess Justice and Chat Noir looked up at the Eiffel Tower to see... Ladybug! She smirked down at the villain and her partner. She then took out her yo-yo as she swung towards the two and landed next to Chat Noir.

"Where were you m'lady?" Chat asked in frustration.

"Got a little caught up. You ready to handle this?" Ladybug winked.

Chat Noir smirked as he nodded his head at her, "always, m'lady." And with that, the two began attacking a confused Princess Justice. 

Little did they know was that the Ladybug before them was only an illusion created by the Fox Miraculous. 

* * *

Tiger Lily watched as the Ladybug Illusion and Chat Noir fought Princess Justice. She clutched her head in pain as she slowly fell to the ground. She looked over at the Ladybug Illusion to make sure nothing had happened. Luckily, she was still fighting normally. 

"Are you okay?" Tikki cried.

"I-I'm fine. I've never fused two miraculouses before so it's kinda having an effect on me." Tiger Lily replied.

"What's the next step in your plan?" Tikki asked.

"Once the Ladybug illusion breaks the akumatized object, I'll create another illusion of Ladybug purifying the akuma that'll distract Chat Noir. While the real akuma is out of sight, that's when you go and purify it."

Tikki nodded at her and smiled. It was similar to Marinette's plan when she was up against Kwami Buster but a lot different. The two watched as the Ladybug Illusion lunged towards Princess Justice and destroyed the handbag that contained the akuma. Tiger Lily stood up as she created a new illusion to distract Chat Noir while Tikki flew away to purify the real akuma. 

Tiger Lily watched as the Ladybug Illusion captured and purified the akuma and put everything back to normal, well, almost. She then started to make her way back to where Tiger Lily was - leaving a confused Chat Noir.

"Nice job, even if... you aren't actually real." Tiger Lily chuckled.

The Ladybug illusion chuckled and winked over at her as she disappeared into thin hair. 

Tiger Lily looked over at Chat Noir and Marinette. Alya and Lila were there as well staring at the girl in shock. Even if Tiger Lily was far away, she could still hear the two clearly and what she heard was not at all pretty.

"Thank you, Chat Noir." Marinette smiled lightly.

Chat Noir did not say anything. He simply glared over at Marinette as he clenched his fists in anger.

"C-Chat Noir?"

"Of all the people... I didn't expect you to be akumatized over something so small."

"What?" Marinette asked in shock.

"Seriously, Marinette. Getting akumatized just because of Lila's lies? She isn't hurting anyone. You... You did this to yourself. I'm sorry." He said as he went over to Lila and Alya, offering to take them back home.

Marinette stared at him in shock. Tears started forming in the corner of her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing right now. Her own partner, the one person she thought she could rely on to be there for her whether she was in costume or not is now pushing her away. 

He turned his back towards her, "take yourself home." And with that, he made he left with both Alya and Lila leaving Marinette all alone. 

Tiger Lily was angry, no, she was more than angry. She was furious at Chat Noir, her own brother. How could he be so stupid and blind? 

"Trixx, divide." She said as the Fox Kwami appeared in front of her. She nodded at the Kwami to renounce itself back into it's miraculous as she made her way to Marinette. 

Of course, once Trixx had been renounced, the illusion disappeared and all the things that were damaged by Princess Justice appeared once again. Marinette looked around at the damage she had done. Not just to this city, but to her own friends as well.

"Ladybug?" 

Marinette looked up to see Tiger Lily standing in front of her. She wiped her tears away as she stood up and averted her eyes. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about..."

Tiger Lily sighed as she took out the Ladybug earrings and placed them in Marinette's palm as the midnight haired girl stared down in shock. "H-How? I only gave these to..." She gasped as she looked up at the striped heroine. "A-Ashlyn?"

Tiger Lily pursed her lips and nodded her head at her, "we'll talk about it later, okay? I have to return a miraculous back to Master Fu and settle some other business. Meanwhile, how about you uh... fix everything up."

"O-Okay..." Marinette said as she put on her earrings and transformed into Ladybug while Tiger Lily made her back to Master Fu's place to return the miraculous. 

* * *

Chat Noir jumped through the window and landed in his home as he detransformed. He then made his way towards his bed and threw himself down angrily. 

"Kid, that was no way to-"

"Keep it to yourself, Plagg." Adrien said angrily.

Plagg furrowed his eyebrows at him and sighed as he left out the window. 

Adrien turned his head and looked over at the picture of him and his mom on the table. He furrowed his eyebrows as he grabbed the picture and looked over it. He felt tears form in the corner of his eyes as they fell onto his pillow. "I wish you were here, Mom..." He choked out. "I could really use your guidance right now..." He sniffled as he placed the picture back on his bedside table and cried.

* * *

Plagg had arrived at Master Fu's and noticed Ashlyn there. He flew up to her and greeted both her and Roaar. "Hey, Ash. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Where's Adrien?"

"Back at home. Kid has literally lost it."

"I saw. I can't believe he'd ever talk to Marinette like that..." Ashlyn sighed in disappointment. "That's why I'm here to talk to Master Fu."

"I hope we're here for the same thing then."

Master Fu came into the room holding a tray of herbal tea. He was surprised to see Plagg in the room and sat down as he looked at the Kwami questioningly. "Plagg? Is something wrong?"

Plagg furrowed his eyebrows at Master Fu. Should he really do this? He loved Adrien but the way he was acting right now was not how a hero should act. Especially the way he acted towards Tikki's owner? Plagg treated every Ladybug with love and respect in his life and dedicated it to protecting them. Needless to say, that when Lila came in and tormented Tikki's owner, he would've cataclysmed her right on the spot - if it weren't for Tikki. But now that he sees the way Adrien is acting towards his own partner when she's a civilian (even if he doesn't know her identity), he just can't put up with that. He's told the boy many times about who's really getting hurt but the boy refuses to acknowledge that. 

"It's... It's my owner, Master Fu. I don't think he's worthy to be Chat Noir." 


	10. Sorry, kid.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien loses his miraculous.  
Tiger Lily gives him advice.

Master Fu stared at Plagg in shock and confusion. Before he could decide whether to take away Adrien's miraculous, he asked Plagg to thoroughly explain the whole situation to him. Master Fu didn't want to think he actually made another wrong choice in choosing the holder for Plagg. He knew he had made a good choice when he saw Adrien help him up when he could've just left him to attend school. What could have happened?

That's when Plagg began explaining about Adrien's behavior towards Marinette. How he chose to ignore Lila's lies and let her expose herself which only caused Marinette to get hurt. But, Adrien didn't even know that she was getting hurt. Master Fu couldn't even believe what he was hearing. Was the boy that ignorant? He couldn't be could he?

"Master, I'm sorry to say but, it's true... Even after her akumatization, he ended up yelling at her instead of the one that caused it in the first place." Ashlyn stated.

Master Fu was speechless. Clearly, Adrien was not worthy to hold a miraculous. Even Chloe never had that sort of treatment after being akumatized. But for him to yell at Marinette after she was akumatized? It was all wrong. Master Fu nodded his head at Ashlyn and Plagg. He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke, "retrieve Chat Noir's miraculous."

"Are we going... to find me a new owner?" Plagg sounded scared. As much as he thought that Adrien wasn't worthy enough to hold a miraculous, he knew the boy could at least redeem himself.

"No, that'd only raise suspicion." Master Fu said as he looked over at Ashlyn, "you'll be fighting beside Ladybug for now. At least until Chat Noir deems himself worthy of a miraculous again."

"And... if he doesn't?" Ashlyn asked.

Master Fu hung his head down, "then I'll have no choice but to replace him."

Ashlyn furrowed her eyebrows at him. She saw how disappointed Master Fu was with Adrien because he saw how much potential he had in him. Ashlyn looked over at Roaar as she transformed into her alter ego and then took a glance at Plagg. Even he looked sad and disappointed at how Adrien was acting. She walked up to the small kwami and lifted up her hand to him so he could sit.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Plagg?" She asked.

It took awhile for him to answer. This was a big deal and he knew he wouldn't be seeing Adrien anymore. But seeing the way he treated Tikki's owner was enough for Plagg to nod his head over at Tiger Lily as they made their way towards the Agreste Mansion to meet with a certain model. 

* * *

Adrien had finished crying and was now at sitting at his desk looking down at his incomplete homework. Plagg had left somewhere without telling him which made him worry. Maybe he was a little too harsh on Marinette today, but she got akumatized over something so small. Or was it? Lila's lies weren't hurting anyone - right? 

_But then why did Marinette get akumatized? People who had gotten akumatized were either angry, sad, or scared._

That was true. But it didn't necessarily mean that she was hurt from Lila's lies. Or maybe she was... 

Not wanting to brood on the subject anymore, he decided to try and finish up his homework. He only hoped that Plagg would be back home so they'd talk about it. As he did his homework, he got a notification from the Ladyblog. He placed his pen down as he logged into his desktop to see what Alya had posted this time.

_What is up, Ladybloggers! _

_So, today there was an akuma but I wasn't able to film anything today due to being muted by said akuma. But you won't believe it! _

_I'm sure all of you know Marinette Dupain-Cheng, well guess what Ladybloggers! The akuma that attacked today was Marinette herself and may I just say... that was THE first time she has ever been akumatized!!_

_Why was she akumatized you ask? My bff Lila will be able to answer that for you! _

Alya turned the camera around to face Lila who was sitting on a bed. Adrien can only assume that this is Alya's house. 

_Hey there, Ladyblog. It's me, Lila. I'm here to tell you the reason why Marinette became akumatized in the first place. From the first day I came back, Marinette has always been distant from me. I asked her why and she just told me she didn't like me very much. I was hurt... She even threatened me in the bathroom once! Still, I kept trying to be her friend but she refused to even talk to me. I've also done my best to try and get her interviews with Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale seeing that she's a fan of them but she just calls me a liar! So the reason why she got akumatized was because she never did get that interview with Jagged and Clara. It was her loss._

The camera turned back to Alya.

_There you have it Ladybloggers! The re-_

Adrien shut down his computer. He felt sick to his stomach for some reason. Even if Alya and Marinette weren't talking anymore, it didn't give Alya the right to actually post about her akumatization online. 

"Adrien Agreste."

Adrien's eyes widened as he turned around to see a striped heroine standing in his window. He recognized them as Tiger Lily and jumped up from his desk. "U-Uh, who are you?" He asked.

Tiger Lily glared at him as she held out a box. "Adrien Agreste, I hereby renounce you as Chat Noir. Therefore, you will hand back the Miraculous of the Black cat to me."

"W-What?" Adrien stared up at her in shock. "What are you talking about? I'm not Chat-" Before Adrien could say anything else, he felt his ring slip off his finger and saw Plagg floating towards Tiger Lily with an apologetic look. "P-Plagg! What are you doing!?"

"Sorry, kid..." Plagg said sadly as he floated next to Tiger Lily.

"No, no, please. Who will help Ladybug protect Paris?" Adrien cried.

"You don't need to worry about that." Tiger Lily replied as she placed the ring in a box.

"But why? Why are you taking my miraculous? Please..." He had tears streaming down his face.

"Simple. Because you're not worthy to hold a miraculous. Not after the way you treated that akumatized victim today. Sad, you had so much potential." 

Adrien's eyes widened in shock. He didn't think that anyone else was watching and certainly not a super heroine. He looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows, "but she- She got akumatized for something so-!"

"Small? You're so ignorant. Too ignorant to even see that the girl you treated unfairly today was hurt. Luckily for you, I was able to go and comfort her in case she got akumatized again and we couldn't let that happen." 

Adrien had tears streaming down his face. He cried and begged for his miraculous back promising he wouldn't do that ever again and that he would go and apologize to Marinette. But Tiger Lily was not going to give it back. "Sorry wouldn't even begin to fix what you just destroyed." She scowled.

He looked over at Plagg who only gave the boy a look of sympathy. "Plagg, please... Without you, I... I'm nothing." He cried.

Plagg looked down sadly. Tiger Lily furrowed her eyebrows at the kwami then turned to the blonde model. "You did this to yourself." She said the exact same words he had said to Marinette which earned a shock and hurt expression from him. And with that, she left with Plagg to go and return the miraculous back to Master Fu leaving Adrien to break down in his room once again. 

* * *

Ashlyn handed back the miraculous to Master Fu. Plagg floated beside him with a sad look on his face. 

"You did the right thing, Plagg." Master Fu told him.

"M-Master... Will Adrien get back his miraculous if he... if he proves his worth?" Plagg asked. He really didn't want a new owner.

Master Fu sighed as he looked down at the box which contained the cat ring. "If he _does _prove his worth and changes for the better, then I will think about giving him back his miraculous."

Plagg nodded at him then looked over at Ashlyn as he floated up to her. "Please, help your brother. I know he can still change, I have hope for him."

Ashlyn gave him a small smile, "I'll do my best."


	11. Ridiculous, Utterly Ridiculous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Ashlyn have a talk about Adrien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update!! Been busy a lot lately D: hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

After Ashlyn returned the miraculous back to Master Fu she returned home and made her way upstairs to Adrien's room. 

Even after all that's happened, she still loved and cared about Adrien. He was her brother and of course, she'd never actually abandon him. If Plagg had hope for him then she had hope too. She knocked on his door - no answer. 

She knocked again a few times and still got no answer. She decided she'd just let herself inside so she opened up the door and looked around to find Adrien sitting against his bed. 

"Adrien?"

He looked up at her and Ashlyn could tell that he had been crying. A lot. His face was stained with tears and his eyes were red and puffy. Ashlyn went and sat beside him as she patted his back. She actually felt sorry for him. 

"Everything okay?" She asked, even if she already knew the answer.

"I just... I lost someone special to me." He choked out. 

Ashlyn raised an eyebrow at him. "Hm... How so?" 

Adrien sniffled as he averted his eyes, "I... I sorta... did something horrible."

_'Yeah, sure. Sorta, he says...'_ Ashlyn thought as she rolled her eyes at him and continued listening to her brother. 

Adrien sighed as he rubbed his hand through his hair and began explaining everything from the beginning. From where the lies began and how he knew about it, to the promise he made with Marinette, to losing his best friend and yelling at his first friend. Ashlyn sighed as she watched Adrien wipe a few tears away. "She's not hurting anyone... She isn't."

"Who?" Ashlyn asked even if she already knew the answer to that.

"Lila... Yeah, she may tell a tale or two but it's not hurting anyone. I don't know why Marinette would think she's hurting anyone... If we humiliate her some more, she'll only get hurt and become akumatized." He sniffled.

Ashlyn sighed as she shook her head at him. "Alright, Adrien. Listen up... The whole class thinks Lila has... all these connections, right?" 

He nodded his head at her.

"Now, why do you think Marinette would expose her? Hm? To humiliate her? Is she really the kind of girl who would do that?"

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows as he hugged his legs closer to him and shook his head at her. "N-No... She isn't..."

"And about all these connections that Lila said she knew... Making promises to people that she might not even be able to keep and eventually her lies are exposed. Who would get hurt more? Lila or the class?" Ashlyn asked.

"T-The class?" He felt unsure about his answer.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes at him, "exactly. The class would get hurt and we'd get a mass akumatization worse than Lila." She said as she got up from sitting next to him and began walking towards the door. "Y'know... Instead of worrying about one specific person getting akumatized, how about you worry about about other people getting hurt because of her? Especially Marinette... She was the one who was hurt the most from all of this." And with that, she shut his door behind her leaving him to think about everything once more. 

Ashlyn sighed as she made her way towards her room and shut the door behind her making sure to lock it. Roaar flew out of her shirt pocket and landed on her shoulder. "Everything okay?"

"He's not gonna see sense anytime soon." Ashlyn stated as she crossed her arms.

"What do you mean?" Roaar asked.

"Adrien. You know how _long _it took him to actually grow a spine when a bunch of kids lied about us? Chloe literally had to-" Ashlyn's eyes widened and a smile formed on her face. Chloe! Why hadn't she thought of this before? Chloe was the reason Adrien actually stood up to those kids. If Chloe could fix him up back then, maybe she could fix him up now. "Come on, Roaar. We have to go check on Chloe." Ashlyn smiled as Roaar flew into her shirt pocket and she went downstairs to notify Nathalie and Gorilla about where she was going. 

* * *

Marinette lay in her bed and stared up at the ceiling with Tikki sitting beside her head. The bluenette was silent, she hadn't said a word when she came home. She furrowed her eyebrows as she placed her arm over her eyes and felt the tears come out again. That's all she ever did. All she could ever do - cry. She had become a weak and pathetic Ladybug. Tikki told her that it was okay. It was okay to cry and let out all her feelings because it okay to be weak but Marinette hated being weak. 

She thought about her partner - Chat Noir. 

Why did he treat her like he did? She thought she meant something to him... Their friendship... Was she wrong? The tears came down faster now and it didn't stop. Chat Noir was her partner. Her friend. And he betrayed her... 

Tikki let her cry. She was not going to tell her to be strong because it was the last thing she needed to hear right now. Marinette didn't need advice - she just needed time. Time to recollect herself and think everything through. She's been through a lot this year and Tikki knew she needed to be there for Marinette. She wouldn't abandon her, she'd never abandon her - not like how her friends did. Tikki looked over at Marinette, her arm barely covering her face, and noticed she had cried herself to sleep - again. Tikki furrowed her eyebrows at eyebrows at the bluenette as she wiped away the leftover tears on her face. 

She was going to protect Marinette no matter what. 

* * *

"Mademoiselle Bourgeois is up in her room." Butler Jean informed Ashlyn.

"Thank you." Ashlyn smiled as she went into the elevator and waited til she arrived on the top floor where Chloe's room was. Once the elevator had stopped, she stepped out and made her way towards Chloe's room. Before she could knock, the door had opened and her eyes widened to see Chloe standing there with one hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow at Ashlyn.

"How did you-"

"I have access to security cameras in the hotel and spotted you in the lobby." Chloe said cooly as she proceeded towards her couch and sat down as she began filing her nails. Ashlyn could only assume she was doing her nails before she came up here - typical Chloe. Ashlyn walked inside her room and closed the door behind her as she went and sat on the couch opposite of Chloe. Before she could even say anything, Chloe had interrupted her.

"I'm not going to help Adrien grow a backbone again."

Ashlyn raised her eyebrows at her in surprise. She wasn't exactly surprised that Chloe knew she'd be coming to her for that reason, but she was surprised at how she had casually said his name. There's was usually affection in the way she said it but now was different. It was like a bitter taste in her mouth. 

"Why not?" Ashlyn asked.

Chloe rolled her eyes and groaned at her. "Ashy, you've asked me this before... I helped him grow a backbone and what happened? He just lost it again. Ugh, he needs to seriously learn how to stand up for people on his own instead of relying on others to tell him what to do." She sighed, "but who can blame him? He _was _raised by your dad and we know how he can be with Adrien."

That was true. Ever since Mom disappeared, Dad has been real strict with Adrien. She wondered why he was never strict with her? Was it because he trusted her more than Adrien? Or the fact that Adrien had more of their Mom's resemblance? She wouldn't know and frankly she didn't care. All she cared about was whether Adrien would finally stand up for himself for once. 

Ashlyn sighed, "you really won't help?"

Chloe looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "It would be... Ridiculous... U-"

"Uttlery ridiculous... I get it. Well, thanks anyway, Chlo. I'll see you later." Ashlyn said as she got up from the couch. Before she could leave Chloe had said something that stopped her.

"So what are you planning to do with Lie-la." She asked, a bit of venom in her voice.

"I don't plan on doing anything. If she does try something to hurt Marinette then of course, I'm going to step in. Because unlike Adrien, I don't care about my reputation." And with that, she closed the door behind her and left. 


	12. Slowly but surely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Accusations. Forgiveness. Bonds rebuilt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LATE UPDATE! BUT IM BACK :D

Its been about three days since Adrien lost his miraculous. He didn’t go to school which made Nathalie and surprisingly, his father, concerned. He brushed them off and simply told them he was just not feeling well. But today they had a huge test and Ms. Bustier stated that they couldn't afford to miss it. He begrudgingly got out of bed and went into the bathroom as he looked at himself in the mirror. He was a mess. He didn't look like his usual model self and that is what surprised him. His hair was messy and he had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. You could see tear stains on his cheeks which shows how much he had cried over the past three days. He took a deep breath as he washed his face and fixed himself up.

"Adrien, you up?" It was Ashlyn. He put on his model face as he opened up the door and looked over at his twin sister.

"Hey, Ash." He said cheerfully as he went to grab his book bag and walk out his room, closing the door behind him.

"You look... happy." She said in suspicion.

"Today feels like a good day, you know?" He smiled as he proceeded downstairs into the kitchen with Ashlyn following behind him giving him a confused stare. 

Who was this guy? Just a few days ago he was sulking in his room about losing his miraculous now all of a sudden he's smiling like he just won the lottery? 

"Good morning, Nathalie! You look great today." Adrien greeted the assistant as he sat down to eat his breakfast.

"Oh, um, thank you, Adrien. I see you're doing well." She told him. 

He nodded at her as he swallowed his food. "More than well. I feel amazing! Like... Today is going to be a good day." 

Ashlyn and Nathalie exchanged looks with each other as they watched little sunshine boy happily chew down his food. After he was done, he thanked Nathalie and made his way out to the car. 

"Is... Adrien okay?" Nathalie asked Ashley.

"...I don't even know." She replied as she made her way outside towards the car and watched as Adrien opened the door for her. She rolled her eyes at him as she made her way inside and sat at the other side. Adrien then followed suit and Gorilla began to drive them to school. 

"I can't wait to see all my friends at school today!" Adrien beamed. "It's gonna be great. Don't you think, Ash?"

At this point, she was annoyed by this. She glared over at him which caused him to look at her confused. 

"What?" He asked. 

She sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Gorilla, please excuse me for what I'm about to do." 

Gorilla simply shrugged at her as he kept his focus on the road. 

"Adrien, shut the _hell _up. Seriously... For the past few days you've been nothing but an empty shell and now all of a sudden you're this happy bappy guy? It seriously annoys me to an extent. If you're hurt, I get it! Talk to me about it! Don't pretend to act like you're happy just to save face or stop others from worrying about you. _I'm _worried about you! For pete's sake just be true to yourself for once!" She yelled. 

Adrien stared at her in shock and in silence. He felt a tear stream down his face as he processed everything Ashlyn just said... He then sniffled as he furrowed his eyebrows and looked down. "I'm sorry..."

Ashlyn sighed as she placed a hand on his. "No, I'm sorry. I... I should've known that the reason you can't stick up for people or yourself is because of Dad." She knew that to be true. That if Dad let Adrien do what he wanted for once or even taught him about dealing with liars then maybe he'd actually stick up for himself and for others.

"Ash..."

"Hm?"

"Have you... have you given up on me?" He asked her. 

Ashlyn at him with furrowed brows as she shook her head at him. "No, Adrien. I haven't. I still have hope for you no matter what."

"But all the things I've done... I lost my friends... Marinette..." He cried.

Ashlyn's eyes widened at the mention of the bluenette. "What about Marinette?" She asked him.

"I... I've said terrible things... to her. She was my first friend when I first started school..." He sniffled as he continued to talk about Marinette and what he had done to her. How he yelled at her for being 'jealous.' He didn't tell her the part about being Chat Noir of course. But Ashlyn knew that already because had been a witness to that.

"Adrien... If Marinette was your first friend then why won't you stand up for her?"

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows as he wiped away a few tears. "Because... I thought that if we just let Lila lie then she'd end up exposing herself... Then Marinette broke our promise... But I realized I was wrong... I doubt she'd ever forgive me." 

"Maybe not... sometimes your actions will speak louder than your words." Ashlyn told him. "Saying sorry isn't enough for her to forgive you, you have to prove that you're actually sorry." 

Adrien looked over at Ashlyn and gave her a light smile. "Yeah... you're right. I'll do my best."

Ashlyn smiled back at him as she moved closer to him and pulled him into a hug. "I believe in you." 

"Thanks for never giving up on me..." He cried.

* * *

"You're so messed up, Marinette! Seriously? Tripping Lila in the hallways and calling her names? You're so jealous!" Alya shouted at her.

"I never did that. I've never even talked with Lila." Marinette said with a dull expression on her face. After what happened with Chat Noir, she didn't care about anything the class had to say. It surprised her that some were actually defending her from Alya.

"That doesn't sound like something Marinette would do..." Rose tried to defend the bluenette. 

"So I'm a liar then?" Lila cried.

"She never said that." Alix said. "She said it doesn't sound like something Marinette would do."

"So Lila made it up then!? She'd never do that!" Alya shouted.

"She either made it up or she mistook someone else for Marinette." Alix replied. 

Alya pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as she looked up at Alix. "Look, I know Marinette... She's been jealous of Lila ever since she came back to school! So of course she would-"

"Okay, hold up... first off, you've known Marinette for a good year and yet here you are accusing her of something that she would never even do. She's been bullied by Chloe for years and not once has she ever tripped her in the hallways." Alix retorted. "Seems to me you don't know Marinette at all."

Alya glared at Alix while also comforting a sobbing Lila. To say the class was a mess would be an understatement. A few believed Lila while others sided with Marinette and defended her saying she'd never do anything like that. Ashlyn had walked in with Adrien, their arms linked together and both smiling. The class turned their attention to them as the two looked over at everyone with confused expressions on their faces.

"Adrien!" Lila cried as she ran up to him. "M-Marinette... has been tripping me in the hallways and calling me names! I've been nothing but nice to her but I don't understand why she'd still do those horrible things to me." 

While some of the class sided with Lila, the others were disgusted and ashamed of themselves for ever believing the liar that they went to go and apologize to Marinette for not believing her. 

Ashlyn stared at the girl as she pulled her brother away from her. "Back off." She said with an icy tone in her voice.

"B-But! Marinette-"

"_Shut the hell up." _It was Adrien who said it this time which shocked Lila and the rest of their classmates.

The class stared in surprise at the boy who was usually so cheery, happy, and full of kindness turn into something that was much different from his usual personality. 

"A-Adrien, why are you acting like this?" Lila sobbed as she grabbed onto his arm and tried to pull him towards her.

"Get off of me!" He shouted. "Marinette didn't trip you in the hallways. She'd never do something like that." He snarled.

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows at the blonde model in surprise. Was Adrien... actually sticking up for her? 

"Adrien, you know Marinette is just jealous because-" Alya tried to reason with Adrien but was cut off.

"Leave me alone. If you ever bother or even hurt Marinette, I'll make sure you get what's coming to you." He said as he started making his way to the back where the bluenette was seated. "H-Hey."

"Hi...?" Marinette looked at the blonde questioningly.

"Um... mind if I sit here? I don't feel at all comfortable sitting next to Lila..." He said as he rubbed his arm.

"Well... Ash is already sitting here so I'm not sure if she'd be-"

"I'm cool with it, Mari. Besides, I think Nathaniel could use a seat mate!" Ashlyn winked up at her.

Marinette furrowed her brows at her then over at Adrien as he waited for her answer. She looked away from him, "...sure."

He gave her a light smile as he took his things and sat beside her. 

"Adrien-" Lila was cut off by Ashlyn.

"Leave him alone." Ashlyn threatened as she made her way up the stairs to sit next to Nathaniel who greeted her with a shy smile. She smiled back at him as she looked over at Marinette and Adrien. She noticed how Marinette kept her distance from the blonde model and how Adrien looked a bit hurt. She sighed as she shook her head at him and opened up her textbook to get ready for the first lesson but still listened on the two.

"Listen, Marinette..."

"Adrien, please. I get it... Okay? We're not friends so-"

"No, Marinette. Forget about that, okay? I'm... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for saying all those things to you and for not standing up for you. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting lately... Truth is, I was raised differently from Ashlyn so I wouldn't know anything about dealing with liars. But now I realized that it cost me good friends..." Adrien explained as he began to feel himself cry. "I'm so... sorry."

Marinette felt sorry for him. He _was _raised differently from Ashlyn so she could understand. But she wasn't going to forgive easily. Yes, she accepted his apology but no, she would not forgive him nor would she trust him. She sighed as she placed a hand on his shoulder gently.

"Adrien... Thanks. While I do accept your apology, I won't forgive you. Not yet, at least. It'll take some time before I'm able to actually trust you again." She told him.

He wiped away a few tears. "Are we... friends again? Y-You don't have to consider me as a friend if you don't want to of course! I'll earn that title again too."

She blinked over at him and then in the first time in forever, Marinette laughed. She laughed so much that she started crying. After she was done, she wiped a few tears away as she gave him a smile. "We're friends, Adrien."

Adrien let out a small smile as the two began to talk among each other before class started. 

Ashlyn smiled at the two as they talked. She smiled at how happy her brother and Marinette looked. She could tell that those two had been through a lot and that this was what they needed. Two friends talking with each other. Maybe Marinette won't trust Adrien again so easily and who could blame her? It was something Adrien had to work for and prove that he deserved it. Who knows? Maybe he could learn a thing or two about that from the bluenette. 

If he was able to prove he was trustworthy. Reliable. Then he was definitely worthy of becoming a hero again. 

* * *

_"Gr... That... That Ashlyn! Ruining my chances with Adrien... She definitely chose the wrong side to be on..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I wasn't sure whether Adrien deserved a redemption or not but I saw that maybe he did deserve one. He's just a boy raised into a life where he doesn't know anything about dealing with liars! That's why he has his twin sister Ashlyn to guide him :D So little by little Adrien will be redeeming himself and trying to gain Marinette (and Nino's) friendship back!


	13. Healing, Learning, and... Jealousy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is slowly healing and learning. He's also feeling... jealous?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! I HAVE HAD WRITER'S BLOCK FOR... A WHILE D: BUT FINALLY AN IDEA HAS SPARKED UP AGAIN.

The past few days went by and little by little, Adrien was healing while also learning in the process. 

He and Marinette are slowly rebuilding their friendship again. They now sit together at the back of the class and make light-hearted jokes once in awhile. 

Adrien apologized to Nino and the two - just like Marinette - are slowly rebuilding what Adrien had broken. Nino had also broken up with Alya and did not want to talk about it. 

Little by little, Adrien was healing but also learning and Ashlyn could see that. Yes, he was still bummed out by his miraculous but he knew what he did was wrong and that he didn't deserve to be Chat Noir anymore. So when an akuma showed up and Chat Noir was no where in sight, he simply went and hid away from the others. Which was weird for him at first, but he knew Ladybug would be able to handle the akuma along with the new hero.

"That Tiger Lily sure is cool." One student said.

"She was! Her and Ladybug were in total sync!" Another blurted.

Adrien wasn't really affected by the comments of the new Superhero. He simply chose to ignore them. But he couldn't say he wasn't hurt from _some _of them. He walked into the school to hear people talking about Tiger Lily and some about Chat Noir. Ashlyn wasn't with him considering because of a last minute photoshoot their father made them do. 

"Do you think Chat Noir isn't feeling well?" One student wondered.

_'Something like that...' _Adrien thought to himself.

"He probably lost his miraculous. Or Ladybug just didn't need him."

_'Yes, something like that. Ladybug? I know she doesn't need me. She's powerful on her own.'_

"So what? Tiger Lily is a better hero anyway! She fits the job perfectly.

Adrien shut his eyes tight at that comment. He was not going to cry. Not here. Not now. 

"Tiger Lily is probably a replacement for Chat Noir." A student laughed.

He shut his eyes tight trying his best to hold back the tears. It hurt so much. The more he thought about the things he'd done. Things he knew were unforgivable. The things that gave him nightmares that sometimes he'd wake up in a cold sweat. Things he did to hurt his friends. He felt so horrible... He turned around to run out the school when he heard someone.

"That's not true." 

The blonde model looked up to see a familiar midnight haired girl with bluebell eyes who was staring down at the students that were talking about Chat Noir.

"Tiger Lily isn't a replacement. She's just helping out Ladybug. No one could ever replace Ladybug's true partner and that is Chat Noir." She told them. They stared at Marinette for awhile then turned their heads away in embarrassment as they mumbled some things to each other. Marinette sighed as she began to walk to class. It was then she noticed Adrien staring at her with furrowed brows and tears streaming down his face.

She blinked at him then ran towards him with worry in her eyes. "Adrien? Are you okay? Did something happen?" 

Adrien sniffled as he wiped the tears off his face. He just couldn't believe it. Marinette really did have a heart of gold. Even after being treated so badly by Chat Noir, she still defended him in public. He couldn't express how happy and ashamed he was. He really took her friendship for granted... "Marinette, Thank you." He smiled lightly.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him in confusion. "For what?" 

"U-Uhm... For being my... friend?" He smiled nervously. 

"Oh. Thanks for being my friend, too?" She said. "Although, that doesn't exactly answer why you were crying." 

"I'm fine, I swear. I just had something in my eye." He lied.

"Hm... Okay, just... don't hesitate to tell me anything, okay? It's not good to bottle up your feelings." She told him.

He nodded at her as they both headed towards class. They still had ten minutes before school started so they decided to hang outside for a bit before heading in. Marinette leaned against the railings with Adrien right beside her. They looked down at the students trying to guess how their mornings went - it was a game they both made up when they noticed a student rushing into school fifteen minutes before it started which had them laughing that morning.

"Hm... Okay, I say that girl over there woke up to her mom or dad yelling at her to go school." Marinette smiled as she pointed to a girl who walked into the school looking mad and sleepy.

Adrien laughed, "Good one. Um... Oh! I say that guy over just finished yesterday's homework." He said as he pointed at a boy who was looking through his notebook in frustration.

"Fair enough." Marinette chuckled as she looked around for another person. 

Just then, they heard a very _sickening _laugh. They looked down at the school's entrance to see none other than Lila Rossi herself. Who was laughing with Alya and other students around her. Adrien and Marinette raised an eyebrow at each other as well as a half smile.

"Five croissants she's lying about Jagged Stone." Marinette smirked.

"Ten she's lying about my father." He told her.

"Deal." Marinette laughed as they both listened in on what the liar was talking about this time. She wasn't at all hard to hear considering half the school gathered around to hear about her stories. 

"Of course Mr. Agreste asked me to model in this mornings photo shoot with Ash! But I had to cancel because of my leg." She lied. Everyone gave the girl sympathetic looks and told her she would've been great in the photo shoot and they hoped that they would get to see her in the next one but this time with both twins.

Adrien smirked at Marinette and crossed his arms at her in triumph.

Marinette sighed as she turned to the blonde and sent him a half smile. "You win. Guess I owe you ten croissants." 

"I guess you do." He laughed. "How about-"

Before Adrien could finish his sentence he heard the classroom door open and out came Luka. He looked up at the two as he gave them a smile. "Hey guys. It's been awhile." 

"Luka, it's great to see you. What are you doing here?" Marinette asked.

"Oh, Jules got sick so I just came to get her work from Ms. Bustier." Luka smiled as he showed them a folder containing some worksheets from Ms. Bustier. 

"Aw, that's so sweet." Marinette smiled.

Adrien looked between the two but didn't bother saying a word. He turned back towards the courtyard to look at some of the students but still listened in on the conversation. 

"So Marinette, I'm having this gig at the boat and I was wondering if you wanted to join in. I'm almost finished writing your song and I'd love for you to hear it." Luka smiled.

_'He wrote her a song?' _Adrien thought to himself.

Marinette smiled, "I'd love to Luka. I can't wait to hear what you have so far." 

"Great! It's this Saturday night. I'll see you then?"

Marinette nodded her head at him. "It's a date."

Luke raised an eyebrow at her and smiled.

"I-I meant... not really a date _date_ but more of a friend kind of date where we just hang out like good friends, right?" Marinette laughed.

Luka chuckled at her, "It's a _date_." And with that, he walked away leaving a flustered Marinette and an annoyed Adrien. 

Adrien didn't know why he was annoyed with Luka. He was his friend _and _Marinette's. But there was something about the way Luka had said 'date' that ticked him off. Marinette specifically said it wasn't a date. Just two good friends hanging out with each other. He still felt annoyed by the whole thing and the way Marinette had smiled at Luka while he talked to her. He didn't understand it at all. Maybe he should ask Ashlyn what's happening with him. 

"Adrien?"

His thoughts were cut off when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Marinette looking at him with worry. 

"Sorry, I'm fine. I just spaced out a bit." 

"Oh, okay. So when do you want to get those croissants?" She asked him.

He _was _going to suggest they hang out Saturday. Not like a date _date_. Just two _good _friends hanging out with each other that's all. Heck, they could also play games if she wanted to. They could go to the Louvre to admire some of the art works. They could even stop by Andres to grab an ice cream together and they'd share- 

Adrien's eyes widened and his thoughts stopped there. That _definitely _sounded like a date to him. But why? Marinette was his friend and he already has his heart set on Ladybug. The blonde furrowed his brows as the spotted heroine came into his mind. Did he really have his heart set on her though? To be honest... he really didn't know. He was charmed by her and the way she works as a hero but that's all he ever knew about her. As for Marinette, well, she was something else. She made him feel something. Something he just couldn't figure out. He admired the way she stood up for his alter ego and her laugh, oh. Her laugh to him was the most beautiful thing he's ever heard. He felt so happy to hear it again and he regretted so much for taking her for granted. But why, why was Marinette making him feel this way? 

"Adrien." Marinette had snapped him out of his thoughts again as he turned to look at the midnight haired girl.

She chuckled at him, "you know what, how about this Saturday? I mean, I won't be meeting with Luka until evening so I'll have time."

Adrien smiled at her, "That'd be great, Marinette."

Before they could continue with their conversation, the bell rang and it was time for them to head into class. 

* * *

Ashlyn sighed in relief as she got out of the shower with a towel on her head. She had a tiring day today and all she wanted to do was sleep. 

Before she could fall onto her bed, she heard a knock on the door. She signalled for Roaar to hide in one the closet as she went to go and see who was at the door. 

"May I hel- Adrien?" She looked at her brother in surprise.

"Hey, Ash. Could I come in?" He asked.

She nodded her head at him as she opened up the door for him then closed it once he got inside. He went to sit on her sofa as she sat down beside him and gave him a worried look. 

"Something wrong? Are you having nightmares again?" She knew Adrien woke up in the middle of the night with the same nightmare. Him being all alone. No family. No friends. Just him alone in a huge birdcage. Unable to be free. 

"Uh, no. This is different." He told her.

"Oh, okay, what's up?" She asked.

"Let's just say I have this friend who is a girl-"

"Marinette?" Ashlyn answered.

"How do you even know if it's Marinette? I didn't even say her-"

"Adrien, it is. Now spill it. What about Marinette?" 

He fiddled with his fingers as he began. "Let's just say that a friend of ours - Luka - asked her to hang out Saturday night."

"Okay? What's so bad about that?" Ashlyn asked confused.

"There's nothing particularly bad about him. He's a nice guy and he'd never hurt Marinette. But you see, Marinette specifically told him it wasn't a date. Just two friends hanging out with each other but then Luka went and said '_It's a date.' _and I just got annoyed when he said that! Like Marinette _specifically _said it wasn't a date and he had the nerve to say... that!!! Like... I don't know why I feel so annoyed. It's so stupid that-"

"Adrien." Ashlyn chuckled.

"Yeah?"

"You're jealous."

Adrien's eyes widened at his sister. "I'm... jealous?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it! The added Lukanette! FINALLY. I've been waiting to add that in since the beginning hehe I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Again, sorry for the late update. :D


	14. Kagami's Feelings, Adrien's Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami shares her feelings with Marinette

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! An update! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this story! Thanks a lot for the feedback, I really appreciate it :)

"Point! Tsurugi." Mr. D'Argencourt called out. "Excellent job."

Kagami took off her helmet as she sent a triumphing smile towards her opponent. 

Her opponent took off their helmet as well and chuckled. "Guess I was pretty off today, huh?" It was Ashlyn. 

Kagami blinked at her and let out a small laugh, "more or less."

"Or... you're just that good. I have heard stories about the Tsurugi family. Maybe you could tell it to me sometime." Ashlyn smiled as she started walking towards the lockers with a flustered Kagami following behind her. 

"Sure, I wouldn't mind, Ashlyn."

Ashlyn chuckled as she turned towards Kagami. "How many times have I told you? Call me Ash. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Oh, right. I apologise." 

"No worries." Ashlyn smiled as she took her duffle bag out of her locker and put it over her shoulder. "I'll see you later." And with that, Ashlyn left the locker rooms and made her way to the school entrance to wait for her car. 

Kagami sat down on one of the benches as she buried her face in her hands. 

What was going on with her? Why was it that every time she talked with Ashlyn, her heart would beat rapidly? She sighed as she got up from the bench and took her duffle bag then began to walk out from the locker rooms. 

She looked towards the school entrance to see Marinette walking towards the entrance. 

Maybe Marinette could help her. She does have a solution for everything. 

Kagami then started running towards the midnight haired girl. 

"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien waved.

"Hey, Adr- AH." Marinette screamed as she felt herself get pulled by someone and looked up to see a familiar face. "Kagami?"

"I need to talk to you about something." Kagami whispered.

"Marinette?"

The midnight haired girl looked over at Adrien who had a confused yet worried look on his face. She then looked back at Kagami whose eyes were pleading her to talk. Marinette then looked over at Adrien and sent him a small smile. "Sorry, Adrien. Looks like this is important! I'll talk with you later." 

And with that, Kagami lead Marinette away from the blonde model who watched in confusion as they walked towards Marinette's bakery. 

"Later?" 

* * *

Kagami was sitting in Marinette's room while she was downstairs preparing a few snacks for them. While waiting, she started fiddling around with her fingers as she looked around the designer's room. 

She's been in here before when they hung out together but it still amazed her. Marinette had a talent and she wouldn't be surprised if she was working for Gabriel - actually, no - if she _surpassed _Gabriel.

"I'm back. Sorry I took awhile, my dad wouldn't stop offering me croissants to take up." Marinette laughed as she set the tray down on a small table. "So, you wanted to talk about something?"

Kagami bit her lip nervously as she averted Marinette's gaze. What was wrong with her? Why was she so nervous? This wasn't like her at all! She was always so levelheaded now all of a sudden she's a nervous train wreck!? 

"Kagami?"

"I-I'm sorry. I d-don't know where to start..." She stuttered. Oh great, now she was stuttering!?

This was definitely a surprise to Marinette. She's never seen Kagami look so nervous. This must be a huge deal if she's acting like this. She placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and smiled lightly. "Is this about Adrien?"

Kagami furrowed her brows at the girl. She hadn't even thought _once _about Adrien ever since his sister came. She also didn't seem to be fond of the male model anymore. Was it because of him and his sister switching schedules? Maybe not. Did she ever like the boy at all? Maybe. At some point, she did because of how much they had in common. But ever since Ashlyn came, all she could think about was her. Why was that? Why was Kagami even feeling this way about Ashlyn?

"No, this isn't about Adrien."

Marinette's eyes widened at her, "oh, then who-"

"It's Ashlyn." 

Marinette blinked a few times. Ashlyn? Did something happen between them? Ashlyn was a fencer just like Adrien. Were they rivals? She knew how competitive Kagami can be sometimes so it would be no surprise if she found Ashlyn to be a rival.

"What about Ashlyn?" Marinette asked her. 

"She uh... Um, how do I put this? Is a... positive influence on me?" 

Marinette raised a brow at the girl. "Isn't that... a good thing?" 

Kagami got up from the chaise and shook her head a few times. "No, no, no! It isn't!" She cried which had shocked her. She has never cried out before. Seriously, what is with her?

"Kagami!" Marinette placed her hands on her friend's shoulders trying to calm her down. "I need you to calm down, okay? There's no need to freak out or anything. It's me, Marinette, your friend. You can always count on me to listen when you wanna talk, okay? You don't need to tell me everything right away. Take your time and relax." The midnight haired girl smiled as they both sat on the chaise again.

Marinette was rubbing Kagami's back trying her best to keep her relaxed. For all she knows, Hawkmoth would see this as an opportunity for an akuma and frankly, she was in no mood to fight an akuma today. 

Kagami sighed as she buried her face into her hands. "This is all so... confusing." 

"What is?" Marinette asked.

"Ashlyn. Everything." 

"Why would you say that?" Marinette is honestly confused herself. She didn't know what was happening with Kagami right now. She knew Ashlyn didn't have any sort of bad blood with her. Heck, Ashlyn has only ever talked highly of the Japanese fencer's skills to her. "You know, Ashlyn really is a kind hearted person and she'd-"

Kagami narrowed her eyes at Marinette. "What kind of relationship do you have with Ashlyn?"

Marinette blinked at her, "huh?"

"How close are you with Ashlyn on friendly bases?" The Japanese girl asked, still keeping her eyes narrowed. 

It was then that Marinette realized something... Kagami's voice was so familiar. It reminded her of... herself. It was the way she talked to Alya before when she found out someone was really close to Adrien. Was it really possible that Kagami was... jealous? Marinette examined the girl who was still waiting for her answer. Her eyes were piercing daggers into her making Marinette a bit nervous. But why? Why would Kagami be jealous of her? And why was she suddenly asking about her friendship with Ash-

Oh.

_Oh. _

Marinette had figured out what was wrong with Kagami. The stuttering, the freaking out, the _jealousy. _Seriously, how could she have not noticed it from the start? She did those same things with Adrien!

"Kagami, is it... it possible you like Ashlyn?" Marinette asked her.

The Japanese girl's eyes widened at her. "I- I don't know, Marinette."

Marinette gasped, "you do! You do like Ashlyn!"

Kagami tried to quiet the girl down while she also tried to hide the noticing blush on her face. "Marinette, please."

"What's wrong?" The designer furrowed her brows at the girl.

"This can't happen. This is all... all wrong! I'm not supposed to like... like girls! If my mother were to ever find out she'd be furious and disown me right on the spot!" 

Marinette looked at the girl sympathetically as she placed a reassuring hand on top of hers. She knew how strict Tsuguri-san can be with Kagami. So she wouldn't be surprised if she were to put Kagami on lock down so that she'd 'straighten' herself out. It was sad to think about. 

"Kagami, do you really like Ashlyn?" She asked.

The Japanese girl nodded her head. "I... I really do. But I can't..."

"Your mother doesn't have to-"

"It's not just my mother, Marinette... It's Ashlyn. I doubt she'll like me back. If I were to ever tell her my feelings, she'd probably never talk to me again." She sighed.

Marinette sighed. That definitely was another problem.

Ashlyn.

So far, Ashlyn has shown no signs of whether she liked boys or girls. She actually never talked about liking anyone at all. But Marinette noticed the way she talked highly of Kagami. She pretty much praised her for her fencing skills. She'd always talk about it in between classes and when they were in study hall. Maybe Ashlyn did like Kagami but she just doesn't know it yet? 

It was then that Marinette had sparked up a brilliant idea. 

"Kagami, I think I have an idea of how you can find out if Ashlyn has feelings for you." 

"W-What!? H-How?" She stuttered.

"Our LGBTQ club in school!" Marinette said excitedly.

"You have such a thing in your school?" Kagami asked her.

"Of course. Juleka and Rose are actually the ones who started the club. We do hold events for it on special occasions. But every Friday, they have an open circle where you can just talk about your feelings. It can be about yourself, your family, or your crush without having to give out their name of course."

"I... I don't know, Marinette."

"No one will judge you. I promise. They're all there to listen and understand. You'll have people who have shared the same experiences as you."

"Um, just one question Marinette. Why are _you _in the club if you're not... you know." Kagami stated and Marinette knew what she meant.

"I'm a supporter." She smiled, "you don't have to be LGBTQ to join, as long as you show your support to the club then you're in!"

Kagami thought about it for awhile. She did like the idea of confessing her feelings to Ashlyn even if she wasn't exactly saying it straight to her face. But another part of her was afraid that this would get out to her mother. 

"I won't force you to do it." Marinette reassured her. She was not going to make the mistake that Alya did. Forcing her into doing things she wasn't comfortable with. "Whenever you feel like doing it, just call me, okay? If you don't want Ashlyn to be there, then it's fine. I won't bring her, okay?"

Kagami smiled at her friend. She was so lucky to have her. She wondered how the class could ever turn on such a sweet girl like Marinette. "Thank you, Marinette... I need time to think about this, if that's okay with you."

Marinette pulled her into a small hug. "Take all the time you need."

* * *

Adrien looked through his closet as he pulled out a few clothes and dropped them onto his bed. He looked them over wondering which shirt would look good enough to impress Marinette on Saturday. 

_Knock. Knock._

His door opened and in came Ashlyn. "Hey, Adrien. I was wondering if you could help me with- Whoa, what is up with all the clothes on your bed?" She asked as she stood next to her brother. 

"Which shirt do you think will impress Marinette: white shirt with a black and red flannel or white shirt with a black and white flannel?" 

Ashlyn raised an eyebrow at him as she sat on his bed. "You're seriously asking that when you're the son of a world famous fashion designer?"

Adrien sighed, "Marinette has her _own _taste of fashion."

His sister simply shook her head at him. "Why do you care about impressing Marinette anyway? Didn't you tell me 'she's just a friend' to you last night?"

Adrien did remember him telling Ashlyn that after she made the assumption that he was jealous of Luka. But he wasn't! He was simply looking out for Marinette and wanted to keep her safe. He couldn't do it before but he'd definitely make up for it now.

"I just... want to look good for her, you know? I mean that in a _friendly _way."

"Yeah, right. No one looks good for someone unless they wanna impress them or make them feel envy." Ashlyn said. "Anyways, will you please help me with the history homework?"

"Then will you help me pick an outfit?" Adrien asked.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes as she went over to his closet and grabbed a grey sweater and black jeans then threw it onto his bed covering up the other clothes he took out. 

"A casual grey sweater with black jeans? Really?" He asked.

"It's going to been chilly lately so you might as well wear it, right? Make sure you don some black sneakers and... Hm." Ashlyn looked inside the closet again and noticed a blue scarf inside. She blinked at it as she took it into her hands and began to feel it. It was handmade, she could say that for sure. Soft and warm. "Where'd you get this?" She asked him as she showed him the scarf.

Adrien looked over at her then smiled, "Father gave it me for my birthday." 

Ashlyn blinked at him in surprise. Really? Their father actually gave him this for his birthday? That was weird considering the both of them have only ever gotten pens. Literally, her father shipped her a box of pens on her birthday when she was still traveling. So this was definitely a big surprise to her. "Hm, well, it'll go with your outfit." She said as she handed the scarf to him. 

"Okay, thanks, Ash. I'll meet you in your room to help with the homework."

"Thanks. Good luck on your _date_." Ashlyn smirked as she left his room.

"It's not a date!" Adrien shouted. He could hear Ashlyn laughing her way towards her room and sighed. 

"Alright, now that I have my clothes." He looked over at his window. "How do I sneak out Saturday night without being seen?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kagami admitted her feelings! Yay!
> 
> And oh no! What could Adrien be planning? Stay tuned!


	15. No longer under house Agreste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A liar joins the twins for lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> • Will be rewriting the chapters to help fill in some plot holes so that it'll actually make sense.  
• Ashlyn isn't as perfect as she is cut out to be. That wasn't my intention for her when I started this story. You shall soon see.

School went by as it usually would. Ms. Bustier had to step out a bit to take care of some personal matters so she let the class have some free time before lunch. 

Adrien and Marinette were sitting at the back talking about their plans for Saturday.

Ashlyn was watching Nathaniel draw up another picture of Ladybug. 

Alix and Kim were playing tic-tac-toe with each other - Alix was winning of course.

Chloe and Sabrina were on their phones going through their socials.

Max and Nino were working on a new video game. Max had paid Nino to make him a mix for his game which the DJ gladly accepted.

Meanwhile, the rest of the class was listening to little Miss Liar spin another tale of lies. Something about Prince Ali dancing with her on her birthday which would be coming up pretty soon. Marinette wondered if she lied about her birth date too.

"So, how are things with you and Nino?" Marinette asked as she sketched out a dress design in her book.

"We're slowly getting there. We talk like we usually do but he hasn't quite forgiven me yet." Adrien replied.

"Ah, well, you'll get there. Don't worry." She smiled. 

Adrien rested his chin on his hand. "How about you? Am I almost close to having you forgive me yet?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him and gave a smug smile. "You still have got a long way to go, Agreste." She said as she poked his cheek with end of her pencil.

Adrien laughed, "that's fine. I'll do my best to earn your trust back even if it takes forever." 

Marinette lightly blushed at that as she continued her sketch. She'll admit that she does still have a small crush on the boy but another part of her is still scared that he'll turn on her again. Hey, you can't be too careful right?

After awhile, the bell rang for lunch and everyone started making their way out of the class. 

"See you later, Nath. Maybe you could teach me how to draw next time." Ashlyn smiled.

"Sure, so, you'll definitely be at the club this Friday, right? Marc is going to be there and I want you to meet him."

Ashlyn nodded her head at him, "definitely. Can't wait to meet him." 

And with that, Nathaniel packed up his things and made his way out class to go and eat lunch. Ashlyn then walked up to Marinette and Adrien with a smile on her face. "Hey, Adrien. Ready to go home for lunch?"

Adrien nodded at her as he waved goodbye to Marinette and started to make his way downstairs and out of the classroom. 

Before Ashlyn could follow him, Marinette grabbed onto her arm. "Ash, wait!"

Ashlyn turned to look at the girl, "what's up? Everything okay?"

"I was just wondering... if you were busy on Friday."

"Friday?" Ashlyn gave it a thought then remembered about Nathaniel. "I am actually. Why?" 

"Really? That stinks... I wanted you to come to one of the school clubs." 

"Which one?" Ashlyn asked.

"Our LGBTQ club. But since you're doing something, I'm guessing we can do it another time."

Ashlyn gave a small laugh, "really? What a mere coincidence then. Nathaniel actually invited me on Friday to the LGBTQ club so I could meet his boyfriend." 

Marinette blinked at her then an excited smile formed on her face. "Wait, really!? So... you're gonna be there Friday? For the open circle?"

"Um, yeah. Pretty much." Ashlyn laughed. 

"Great! I mean uh, that's great news! I just wanted to make sure you'd come because well, I've heard about you doing some pride marches on your travels from Adrien." Marinette smiled.

"Yeah, I've done a lot of pride marches for my LGBTQ friends along my travels."

Marinette smiled yet also wondered about Ashlyn. For instance... Why did she have more freedom than Adrien? Why wasn't he strict with both kids? It wasn't fair to Adrien if Ashlyn was the only one able to go out and do things freely. 

"Anyway, I gotta get going. I'll see you after lunch, Marinette." Ashlyn smiled.

"Oh, right, bye!" Marinette smiled as she waved goodbye to the blonde.

* * *

Ashlyn made her way out the school and proceeded towards her car when she noticed someone standing close to Adrien making him very uncomfortable. She scowled as she went over to her brother and pulled him away from them. "I said to stay the _hell _away from him, Rossi." 

"I was only trying to talk to him!" Lila cried.

Ashlyn looked over at Adrien who only shook his head at her and turned to glare at the Italian. "Leave us alone, Rossi! We want nothing to do with you-"

"Ashlyn, that's no way to treat one of your father's muses." Nathalie scolded.

Wait a minute... Did she hear that right? Did she just say one of their father's muses? Lila Rossi? He can't be serious! Ashlyn glared over at Lila as she kept Adrien behind her. "You're kidding me, right?" She asked the assistant.

Nathalie shook her head at her then turned to the Italian. "Gabriel has asked that you join us for lunch to discuss an upcoming photo shoot with both twins." 

"Like hell we're doing a photo shoot with-!" Before Ashlyn could say anything else, Nathalie turned to her with a scolding look. One for cursing and one for even trying to talk back against her. 

"If you have a problem with that Ashlyn, perhaps you should discuss it with your father. He will be joining you for lunch." 

Ashlyn turned to Lila. "Maybe I will."

* * *

The ride home was a dreadful one to say the least. Ashlyn sat between Adrien and Lila but was closer to her brother. She did not want to touch the liar next to her. 

Once they arrived at their mansion, both Adrien and Ashlyn got down from the drivers side. Lila tried to follow after them but Ashlyn had slammed the door on her. Unfortunately, Lila hadn't broken her nose and the twins sighed in disappointment when she came out the other door smiling. 

They all made their way inside the house and into the dining room. Adrien sat at the end of the table with Ashlyn on his right while Lila sat at the other end of the table on the left. After awhile, Gabriel had entered and greeted the three of them then sat down as they all began to eat lunch in silence. 

Gabriel cleared his throat as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Now that you are all here, I wanted to discuss an upcoming photo shoot. You two will model side by side with Miss Rossi." 

Ashlyn's eyes widened in horror and in shock while Adrien just leaned into his chair and sighed sadly. Both twins had missed the liars smirk on her face when their father spoke.

"I'm sorry, father. I don't think I feel comfortable with that." Ashlyn spoke up.

"And why is that Ashlyn?" Her father asked.

"Because that girl is a compulsive liar and I refuse to model beside someone with so much dishonesty like her."

Lila sighed as she pretended to wipe a tear away. "Oh, Ashlyn. I can't believe she's gotten to you too... It hurts to see another Agreste get manipulated." 

Gabriel then turned towards Lila. "What do you mean _manipulated_?"

Lila sobbed, "I'm sorry, Mr. Agreste. But the thing is... Ashlyn and Adrien were just so scared to tell you about how they were being manipulated by someone into thinking that I'm a liar." 

"Ashlyn, Adrien, care to explain?" Gabriel asked with a brow raised.

"She's lying! We weren't manipulated into anything!" Ashlyn shouted. 

"Ashlyn, it's okay! Your father needs to know that you're being manipulated. Especially by someone like Marinette."

Ashlyn and Adrien's eyes both widened in horror and what she had just said and turned towards their father who had a look of anger on his face. No. _Hell no_ was this happening. This has got to be some stupid nightmare and they'd wake up on the drive home. 

Unfortunately... it wasn't. 

"Miss Dupain-Cheng?" Gabriel scowled.

"Yes, sir... She's been manipulating Ashlyn and Adrien so she'd have a chance to work in your brand." Lila faked cried.

"SHE'S LYING! SHE'S THE ONE WHO WANTS TO WORK IN YOUR BRAND! FATHER DON'T BELIEVE HER, SHE-"

"Enough!" Their father shouted as he pinched the bridge of his nose and adjusted his glasses. "I see now the changes in your behavior has been caused by none other than the Dupain-Cheng girl."

"Father, there hasn't-"

"Ashlyn." Nathalie said eyeing her. 

"From now on, you are prohibited from making contact with Miss Dupain-Cheng. She will definitely not have a place here at _Gabriel_."

"That's... That's not fair to Marinette! You're just going to listen to one side of the story without listening to the other!? Marinette has been nothing but a sweet, caring, and aspiring fashion designer! She would never manipulate Adrien and I just to get a spot in your company!" Ashlyn said, defending the young designer. 

"That is ENOUGH!" Gabriel shouted. He was already on his last nerve. "How dare you speak back to me that way. This isn't how I raised you."

Ashlyn was tired. So very tired of just arguing with her father. For the first time since her mother's disappearance, Ashlyn had cried. Adrien furrowed his brows at his sister as he stood up to place his hand on her shoulder.

She sniffled before looking at her father with puffy red eyes. He didn't even look like he cared about the fact she was crying. "You're right. This isn't how you raised me." She said as she walked towards the dining room exit. "Because it was my mother who raised me to speak up against liars." And with that, she walked out the dining room with Adrien following behind her.

Lila smirked to herself as she continued to eat her lunch. Gabriel got up from the table and adjusted his tie. "Nathalie, be sure to take the twins and Miss Rossi to school. I will be in my office. If you'll excuse me."

The brunette smiled up at him and bid him farewell as Gabriel left the dining room along with Nathalie. 

_Poor Ashlyn... Too bad your Daddy pulls all the strings_. _Marrying into the Agreste family should be easy as pie._

* * *

Ashlyn laid on her bed as she looked over at the portrait on her bedside table. It was a picture of her, Adrien, and their mom laying in the grass together smiling happily. 

She remembered that day so well too. The three of them had gone to the park that day while their father was busy with some new designs. They were so happy together. Now that she thought about it, the only times she's ever seen her father smile was when their mother was still alive. 

She sighed as she turned her head into her pillow. 

"Ash? You alright?" It was Adrien. She didn't even know he followed her. 

"I'm sorry..." She said through the pillow. 

Adrien sighed as he leaned down to hug his sister. "No, don't apologise. Don't blame yourself for standing up for your friends. If anything, I should apologise for not helping you." 

Ashlyn sniffled as she got up and turned towards her brother to pull him into a hug. "You didn't have to. You've already dealt with dad so many times." She said as she pulled away from him to wipe a few tears away. 

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"I never got to ask but... why was it that only you got to travel for Father's fashion brand? Not saying I'm jealous or anything but..."

Ashlyn sighed, "that's a long story and I'll tell you about it after school." 

Adrien nodded his head, deciding that after school would be the best time. She's already dealt with a lot. 

"I'm tired of this family..." 

Adrien's eyes widened at her, "what do you mean?"

"The Agreste family, Adrien. I'm tired of it. Having to keep up a front so as not to ruin the family name." She said putting air quotes on family name. "That's why... I'm going to have my last name changed when I graduate." 

Adrien blinked at her, "You mean...?"

Ashlyn nodded her head at him. 

Adrien took a sharp intake of breath and let it out. He then smiled over at her as he placed his hand on top of Ashlyn's. "Why wait? We can ask Chloe to help us."

"_Us_?"

Adrien nodded, "I think it'll be good for the both of us if we changed our last name."

Ashlyn smiled over at him, "wow, look at you being all _rebellious_." 

Adrien let out a light chuckle. "To be honest... If you can stand up to Father like that, then so can I. I'm done listening to him." 

Ashlyn smiled. She was proud of the way Adrien was finally standing up for himself and for others. He would soon be worthy of his miraculous again. 

Adrien got up from Ashlyn's bed as he grabbed his school bag and hers. "How about we start a rebellion?"

"Against father?"

"Against the entire Agreste brand." He smiled.

Ashlyn smirked, "I'm in." She said as she grabbed her bag from him and proceeded downstairs with her brother beside her. They saw Nathalie and Lila waiting for them but walked straight past them. The two followed behind.

Gorilla opened up the car for them but they simply shook their head at him. 

"My brother and I will be walking to school. You can take little Miss liar over there." Ashlyn stated as the two started their way.

Nathalie ran after them and stopped in front of the car. "Adrien! Ashlyn! Get in the car right now! You know how furious your father will be!"

"Don't care." Adrien said coldly..

"Do you know what this will do to the Agreste-"

"We're not Agreste anymore." Ashlyn said as she turned to give the assistant a cold stare. "We're the Graham de Vanily twins."

The assistant stood there in shock as the twins made their way to school with smiles on their faces. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rise of the twins has begun!


	16. Ashlyn vs the flock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashlyn goes off and things take a turn for the worse.

Ashlyn breathed in and out to calm herself down. Lunch had not gone well and all she wanted to do was forget. She looked up at Adrien who gave her a reassuring smile as he placed an arm around his sister's shoulder to let her know that he was with her. 

They finally made it to school and saw Marinette walking towards the entrance. 

"Marinette!" Adrien called out to her.

The girl turned around to see the twins smiling up at her. "Hey, guys. Enjoyed your lunch at home?"

Ashlyn gave her an awkward smile, "well, something like that-"

They heard a car pull up to the school and turned around to see Lila and Nathalie step out. Lila smirked as Nathalie went up to the twins and Marinette.

"Ashlyn, Adrien, your father specifically stated that you are no longer allowed to be in contact with Miss Dupain Cheng." Nathalie scolded.

Marinette furrowed her brows at the assistant then at the twins. Did she do something wrong again? She then looked over at Lila who gave her a cunning smirk. Marinette then glared at the girl. Why was she not surprised that Lila had something to do with this.

"Marinette's our friend. Don't think that Father's words will scare me." Ashlyn said with an icy tone which surprised both Marinette and Nathalie.

"Your father will-!"

"Will what? Pull us out of school? Go ahead." Adrien said. He didn't seem afraid anymore now that Ashlyn and Marinette were with him.

"I will inform your father of this behaviour and he will see to it that you are forbidden from ever going back to school again!" The assistant shouted. 

"I would watch my words if I were you, Nathalie. Unless you want my father's brand to be tarnished." Ashlyn challenged.

"You wouldn't-"

"I. Would. And I don't care if something happened to the brand. Like I said... We're not the Agreste twins anymore, we're the Graham de Vanily. So go ahead and tell father of our bad behaviour. You mess with my friends, I mess with the brand, _Nathalie_." Ashlyn said as she turned towards Marinette with a smile and linked arms with her. "Come on, Marinette. We'll be late for class."

Nathalie blinked at Ashlyn then looked over at Adrien. She knew the boy was still a bit scared of his father. "Adrien, you need to talk to Ashlyn about this behaviour unless you really want to be pulled out of-"

"No."

The assistant blinked at the boy. "Adrien, what-"

"You heard me, Nathalie. I'm not listening anymore to Father's demands and neither is Ashlyn. You can pull us out of school and ground us for as long as you wish but it doesn't mean we won't do anything to tarnish the reputation of the Agreste brand." Adrien said. He then looked over at Lila. "As for you? Leave me, my sister, and Marinette alone or you'll regret the day you ever messed with _me_." With that, he turned away and started walking to class along with his sister and their friend. 

The assistant and liar both stood there in shock. Nathalie herself didn't know what to say actually. The twins were actually rebelling against their father and the brand. If she told Gabriel about this, he'd surely pull them out of school. But if he were to actually do that, his company reputation would be ruined because of the twins. 

It was at the point that Nathalie had no choice but to leave the twins be... for now. She looked over at Lila with a raised brow as she fixed her glasses. "I want you to watch over the twins for me."

"Why should I do that?" Lila scoffed.

"Because it's in the contract that you signed with him."

Lila laughed, "yeah, right. The contract stated it was only Adrien I had to watch over." She said as she started to make her way towards the school entrance. Before she went inside, she looked over at the assistant. "But if you insist... I'll watch over little Ashlyn as well."

* * *

Once Adrien, Ashlyn and Marinette made their way into class they walked up towards the stairs and sat in their seats. Ashlyn let out a sigh as she leaned back into her seat.

Adrien chuckled at her and felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked over at Marinette who gave him a confused look. 

"Wanna tell me what happened during lunch?" The designer asked.

Adrien said one word: Lila

Marinette raised her brows at him and wondered what the Italian could have done this time. She watched as Adrien sighed and combed his hair back with his hands. Marinette had to admit, it was kinda cute. Okay, fine, it was REALLY cute. She still kinda had a crush on the blonde model but she wouldn't trust him just yet. Not til he proved he was worthy of it. 

Adrien looked over at her with a light smile. "Marinette?"

"Y-yes, Adrien?" She asked him.

"I could really go for those croissants right now." He said with a pout. 

Marinette chuckled at the blonde. "How about after school then?" 

Adrien smiled happily at the girl then remembered something. "I have fencing today... But, I'll just skip it."

Marinette furrowed her brows at him, "Adrien, are you sure? I wouldn't want to get you in trouble." 

"Didn't you hear me and Ashlyn outside?" Adrien chuckled, "we decided to go against our father's brand." 

"Oh, right. I remember hearing you say you're Graham de Vanily now. Does that mean you're taking your...-"

Adrien smiled, "-mom's last name." He finished for her.

Marinette gave him a light smile as she placed her hand on top of his. "No matter what, Agreste or Graham de Vanily, you're always going to be the same Adrien to me." 

"Thanks, Marinette." He smiled as he squeezed her hand. 

"No problem." She said as she tried to take her hand back but soon realized he still held onto it. "Adrien?" 

He was looking down at his lap now, his bangs covering his eyes so no one would see. But, Marinette knew what was happening. "Marinette?"

The girl let out a soft smile as she scoot a little closer to him. She intertwined her hands with his and gave it a light squeeze feeling him squeeze hers in return. "It's okay, Adrien..." 

She watched as a few tears fell down and onto his lap. Marinette looked around in case anyone else was looking but luckily, no one had noticed considering they were all huddled around Lila. For once, she was thankful for the liar. She looked back at Adrien who was trying to hold back the tears. Marinette noticed Ashlyn looking at him and furrowed her brows at him as she came over and embraced him into a hug.

He let go of Marinette's hand to wrap his arms around his sister. Marinette looked up at Ashlyn to see a few tears streaming down her face as well. "I know, Adrien... I miss her, too..." 

Marinette didn't bother them. She only watched and made sure that no one else would come up and disturb them. Ashlyn sat next to Adrien while still embracing him as they both cried into each other's shoulders. How could their father not see their pain? What kind of parent ignores their child's discomfort towards someone? 

"Adrien! Ashlyn!" Lila shouted. "I hope you guys are ready for our photoshoot! I know I am." 

Marinette glared at the girl and watched as she came up to them. She was not going to ruin the moment for them. Not now. Marinette was about to stand up when Ashlyn looked up at her and shook her head. The girl furrowed her brows at her as she watched Ashlyn pull away from Adrien to wipe her tears. Her brother did the same. 

"Don't talk to us as if we're friends, Rossi." Ashlyn said coldly.

"A-Ashlyn! Did I do something wrong?" Lila cried then looked over at Marinette. "Marinette must have manipulated you into hating me, didn't she?"

Ashlyn raised an eyebrow at her; clearly unamused. 

Alya went up to her and began to comfort the girl and sent a glare towards Marinette but the girl wasn't phased. If Alya didn't believe her about Lila lying then that was her problem. She refused to be saved. 

"Marinette didn't manipulate me. I'm just not dumb like your flock of sheep." Ashlyn said crossing her arms. 

"How dare yo-!" Alya shouted but was cut off with Ashlyn putting her hand up.

"I said what I said, Cesaire. You're nothing but flocks of sheep. _Stupid _flocks of sheep considering you can't do a simple thing like fact checking." 

"I do fact check!" Alya defended. "I've checked my sources!"

Ashlyn scoffed at her, "_one _source: Lila Rossi. Have you ever bothered to fact check her claims? Anything? Probably not considering you post just about _anything _on that stupid blog of yours." 

"Hey, that's enough!" Ashlyn looked behind the two to see Mylene walking up to them. "Lila and Alya did nothing wrong to you! Why do you have to bully them?"

"Bully?" Ashlyn let out a laugh. "Bully them? Oh, you are definitely one to talk considering you bullied one of the most kind hearted students under the assumption that she was jealous. You all are so damn hilarious." 

"We would never bully anyone!" Kim shouted from his seat.

Ashlyn crossed her arms at the jock. "I would feel sorry for you considering you lack the intelligence but I rather not." 

"I honestly don't know why you would do this Ashlyn..." Lila sniffled. "I mean... Your father likes me and your mother... She said she wants nothing more than me to be apart of the Agreste family..." 

That was the wrong thing to say.

Without thinking, Ashlyn raised her hand and slapped Lila against her face causing the girl to fall to the ground. It was hard enough that the smack could be heard from all over the school. Everyone had gasped and looked between Lila and Ashlyn. 

Lila looked up at the girl in shock with a hand on her now bruised cheek. Alya sat beside the girl as she looked up at Ashlyn with a glare. Everyone else was just in shock. 

"You have gone too far!" Alya yelled and that was when the whole flock joined in to defend their lying friend who was crying into the reporter's shoulder.

Ashlyn was about to say something until Adrien stood up and gave them all a deadly look. Up until now, Adrien had always been called the sunshine boy because of his personality. However, that sunshine boy was gone. 

Lila got up to try to cling onto his arm but he pushed her away harshly. 

"Adrien! You, too!? Your mother said we'd be getting married as soon as we graduated you know! Is this anyway to treat your future wife?" 

Adrien gave her a deadly glare. One Ashlyn had never seen from him before. Could it be because of Plagg's influence? 

"Shut the hell up. You don't know my mother, you never knew my mother, and I will not let you speak about her EVER!" Adrien shouted as he shocked everyone in the room. Angry tears streamed down his face. He tried to stop it but he couldn't. 

Marinette witnessed a flash of purple and immediately looked over at the blonde in fear. Ashlyn must have noticed it too since she was trying her best to calm him down but to no avail. Adrien was just too angry and upset. The butterfly flew into the lucky charm bracelet that Marinette gave him. She didn't even notice he was wearing it until now.

And in that moment... Adrien was akumatized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sunshine boy is out. Akumatized!Adrien is in! 
> 
> What do you think Adrien's akumatized name should be? ;)


	17. Dark Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akumatized! Adrien wants nothing more than to kick someone's butt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided on naming him Dark Prince! Some of you were suggesting to name him something that deals with Sunshine considering he's the sunshine child. But I decided that he'd be named Dark Prince considering he's akumatized :D

_A few minutes prior to Adrien's akumatization..._

"Adrien, please, you gotta calm down, okay? Adrien, look at me. Look at me, please!" Ashlyn shouted as she tried to get Adrien to look at her. 

After awhile, his eyes met hers. Tears streamed down his face as he sniffled and looked over at his sister.

"Adrien, please, don't give in." Ashlyn cried.

_"Dark Prince... I am Hawkmoth. I will give you ultimate power to bring justice and show no mercy to those who deserve it."_ Hawkmoth spoke.

"Ash, we gotta go." Marinette said as she tried to pull her out of the class."

"No! I can't leave him Marinette! He can still fight it... I know he can!" She cried some more.

Adrien grabbed his sister's hand and held it. "Ash, please... Save yourself." 

Marinette then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ladybug will save him no matter what." 

Ashlyn looked back at Adrien to see him covered in black and purple. She furrowed her brows then looked over at Marinette and nodded her head as they both ran out of the classroom to find a safe place to transform.

_"Do we have a deal, Dark Prince?"_

"It's time for justice, Hawkmoth..."

* * *

"Sir, are you... certain it was wise to akumatize, Adrien? Your own son?" Nathalie asked.

"I planned to akumatize Ashlyn but her negative emotion doesn't weren't as strong as Adrien's. Not in the least. Adrien will be my strongest akuma yet... I can feel it" Hawkmoth smiled wickedly, not at all caring for the well-being of his son.

* * *

Marinette and Ashlyn both ran out of the classroom and into an empty storage room. Both Tikki and Roaar appeared before them ready to transform their owners.

Okay, we're good to go. Tikki, Spots o-" Marinette looked up at Ashlyn who was staring down at the ground. "Ash, are you okay?" She asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"No... I _will _make him pay." She said angrily. 

"A-Ash?" Marinette asked her, a little fear in her voice.

"I will put Hawkmoth behind bars if it's the last thing I do." She said through gritted teeth. 

"Ash! I need you to calm down right now, okay? We can't have you out there being angry otherwise we'll never be able to save Adrien." Marinette said, trying to calm the girl down.

Roaar nodded in agreement, "Ladybug is right. We must focus on saving Adrien no matter what." 

Ashlyn looked between her Kwami and Marinette and let out a small nod and smile. "You guys are right. What matters most is saving Adrien. Roaar, transform me!" With that, Roaar instantly transformed her into Tiger Lily while Tikki transformed Marinette into Ladybug. 

"What's the plan, Ladybug?" Tiger Lily asked.

"Adrien will most likely go after Lila first, we'll have to make sure he doesn't." She said as she opened up the storage room door to exit.

"Wouldn't it be better if Adrien exposed her anyway?" Tiger Lily asked her. 

Ladybug shook her head at her, "there would be no justice in that. For now, we're just gonna have to..." Ladybug felt like gagging for what she was about to say. "...save her." She managed to get out.

Tiger Lily cringed at the word save and Lila being in the same sentence. The girl didn't deserve to be saved at all. "Whatever you say, Ladybug."

"Let's go."

They both got onto the rooftops of the school to survey the area for the fox. Unfortunately, Lila was nowhere to be seen. 

"I'll look around the classrooms, Ladybug. You keep an eye out for Adrien." Tiger Lily said as she jumped off the roofs to go search for Lila.

"I don't get it... Where is Adrien? He should've made an attack by now." Ladybug said confused as she looked around for him. She sighed as she looked down at the ground, "Chat Noir, where are you?"

Unbeknownst to her, Dark Prince is silently watching her from afar.

"It's time to make your move, Dark Prince... Go bring justice and retrieve Ladybug and Tiger Lily's Miraculous!" Hawkmoth shouted.

* * *

"Lila? Lila Rossi?" Tiger Lily called out. She mentally gagged when she said the liar's name as she looked around the locker room. 

"Tiger Lily!" She immediately turned around at the call of her name to see Alya and a few other students coming out of the lockers. Alya instantly took out her phone and began live streaming. "Can you give us any details about the akuma? How will Ladybug defeat it? What are your superpowers? Where is Chat Noir?"

Tiger Lily froze at the last question. She sighed as she pushed Alya's phone away. "I have no time for this. Where's Lila Rossi?" She asked as she looked around the room to see Lila in a corner looking at her. She then proceeded to walk up to the liar. "Let's go. We've gotta get you to safety." She mentally gagged again.

"I'm sure there's no need for that... Ladybug will save the day, right?" She smiled sickeningly.'

Tiger Lily tried her best to not roll her eyes. "No doubt about it. But it's better to be safe than sorry. As for the rest of you, I'd advise you to stay here. Same goes for you, Ladyblogger." She said as she eyed Alya.

"What? But, I-!"

"You'll get a scoop. Just not now." Tiger Lily said as she took Lila and made her way out of the locker room. 

* * *

"Ladybug!" A voice shouted, causing Ladybug to turn around. Her eyes widened in shock. 

"A-Adrien?" She called out.

"Wrong. I am Dark Prince. I will bring justice to Paris. I will show no mercy to those who have wronged the innocent. Therefore, I shall show no mercy to Lila Rossi!" He shouted as he held up a black sword towards the sun. A beam of light shot out from the sword towards it. It then started to become dark. 

Ladybug looked up at the sky and saw the moon about to cover the sun. "An eclipse?" She looked back at Adrien and noticed him getting more powerful. 

"Once the moon fully covers the sun... I shall show no mercy." He said as he lunged towards Ladybug with his sword. She easily dodged it and landed behind him trying to catch him off guard. "I will have ultimate power to bring justice..." 

* * *

"Night time already?" Lila said as she looked up at the sky.

"It's a solar eclipse..." Tiger lily replied. _"...idiot." _She mumbled under her breath as she looked up at the sky. _Hmm... Looks like it's only first contact, not at all close to totality. _

She then looked up to see Ladybug fighting against Adrien. "Ladybug!" She looked over at Lila, "you find a place to hide." And with that, she went to go and help the spotted heroine. 

"Hmph." Lila smirked 

* * *

"Ladybug! Everything okay?" Tiger Lily asked worriedly.

"It could be better." Ladybug tried to joke as she dodged another one of Dark Prince's attacks.

"What's up with the eclipse?" Tiger Lily asked as she took out two chakrams and began to throw it towards Dark Prince. 

"If the moon fully covers the sun, he'll have ultimate power and it'll be impossible to defeat him until the eclipse is over." 

"We still have time til totality. Let's do this." 

Ladybug smiled as both her and Tiger Lily began to attack Dark Prince. He dodged their every move but they had the advantage as they never stopped their attacks.

"Help me, Ladybug! Help!" Someone cried.

"Lila!?" Tiger Lily shouted as she turned to see the Italian girl on a roof top holding onto her leg. 

"Lila Rossi... You shall be brought to justice!" Dark Prince shouted as he made his way towards her.

"Adrien, no!" Ladybug yelled as she wrapped her yo-yo around him and tried to pull him back.

"Stay out of this!" He said angrily as he swung his sword towards her.

Luckily, Tiger Lily had moved her out of the way in time before it could land a hit. "Damn that Lila! What is wrong with her!?" 

"It doesn't matter right now. We've got to stop Adrien! Lucky Charm!" She said as she threw her yo-yo up in the air. A tea cup appeared in the air and dropped into her hands. "A tea.. cup?" She said confused. She looked around to see what her miraculous would be used for but found nothing. She looked down at it again and finally realized it's use!

"Tiger Lily, I need you to hold him off for a few minutes. Can you do that?"

Tiger Lily nodded her head at her, "You got it, Ladybug!" And with that, she landed next to Lila and hoisted her up onto her shoulder. She was going to enjoy this. She then looked up at the akuma and smiled. "Hey, Dark Prince! You want her? Come and get her!" 

The akuma turned towards Tiger Lily with an angry expression. "You will give her to me!"

"I'd hold on tight if I were you." Tiger Lily smirked.

"What are you-"

"Velocity!" Tiger Lily shouted as her shoes began to glow. She then turned back to the akuma and gave a salute as she ran fast. 

"Let! ME! DOWN!" Lila screamed as they kept going at a fast pace.

Tiger Lily laughed to herself. She didn't stop and she didn't care where she went as long as Lila Rossi suffered along the way. To her disappointment, she felt herself slowing down little by little. She needed to find a place for the Italian before she went back to her normal pace. 

She spotted the Louvre not too far from where she was and made her way towards the building and headed inside. She tossed the Italian onto one of the waiting chairs in front of the Monalisa.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, protecting you?" She swore she would throw up soon if she had to keep protecting this lying fox. She then turned on the emergency lockdown system and a bunch of bars trapped the Italian inside.

"Hey!!!" She yelled as she ran up to the bars.

"Don't worry. We'll be back for you after we defeat this akuma!" That was definitely a lie. "Just stay here and you'll be safe." Tiger Lily replied with a sarcastic smile.

Lila narrowed her eyes at the striped hero as she left her there.

* * *

"Master Fu! We're in big trouble here!" Marinette shouted as she ran towards the old man. 

He nodded his head at her as he went to fetch the miracle box and place it in front of her. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, choose an ally you can trust to help aid you on this mission. Once the mission is over, you will retrieve the miraculous." 

Marinette looked through all of the miraculouses. An ally she could trust? She looked over at the fox and turtle miraculous. Her and Alya have not spoken since their argument and while Nino had apologized, she was still disinclined about trusting him. 

Marinette let out a deep breath as she grabbed the fox and bee miraculous. "Master Fu, may I?" 

He nodded at her as he handed the turtle miraculous to her. She thanked him and started making her way to find holders for the miraculous. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a new story called "Teardrops on my guitar"  
It's NOT a song fic, okay lol. 
> 
> Anyways, who do you think the new holders for the fox and turtle should be? :D


	18. Why do all the monsters come out at night?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiger Lily is hit by Dark Prince's blade and is in major trouble!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE UPDATE. I'VE BEEN SO BUSY LATELY AHHHHHHHHH. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THO!!  
Also, I recommend listening to Monsters by All Time Low ft. Blackbear since this chapter was heavily inspired by the song :D

After getting rid of or rather... hiding Lila someplace safe, Tiger Lily made her way out onto the top of the Louvre and looked around for signs of Dark Prince.

"Doesn't seem like he followed me here..." She then heard the sound of her Panjas bracelet beeping. "Looks like I need to charge..." Before she could find a safe place to detransform, she heard the sound of a familiar shout and looked up to see Dark Prince aiming his sword at her.

Her eyes widened at him as she jumped out of the way causing him to miss. Luckily, his sword hadn't made contact with the Louvre.

"Adrien! Snap out of it!" She shouted.

"I am not Adrien. I am Dark Prince and you will bring Lila Rossi to me!" He shouted as he swung his sword at her once again.

The sound of her panjas bracelet beeping had distracted her and she barely had time to react before he swung his sword at her and landing a hit.

To her surprise, she wasn't hurt. It was as if the sword went through her. She looked up at him with a smug look on her face. "Ha! You call that a sword? That thing didn't even hurt me!"

Dark Prince simply laughed and shook his head at her. "The sword wasn't meant to physically hurt you..." He smirked.

She furrowed her brows at him, "then wha-" She stopped when she saw flashbacks of when she was a kid going through her head. 

"What... What the hell is this?" She asked as she started clutching her head.

_Ashlyn did it! She's just lying!_

_I never took anything! Ashlyn stop lying!_

_She's nothing but a tattle tell!_

_We don't want to be friends with you anymore, tattle tell!_

"What did you... do to me?" She asked taking in small breaths.

"You're feeling it now, aren't you? The pain? The trauma? The injustice? Aren't you just tired of being the nice person... Don't you want to get justice for what people have done to you?" Dark Prince asked her.

Tiger Lily began breathing heavily. She felt sick and her head started to hurt. She almost didn't notice the sound of her panjas bracelet beeping. She turned around to make her escape until Dark Prince got a hold of her arm.

"Where do you think you're going? You can't escape from the pain..." He smiled wickedly as he started to move his other hand towards her panjas bracelet.

_Why would we want to hang out with you?_

_If we're not hanging out at your place, then why bother asking us to hang out?_

_Just because she's a daughter of a fashion designer, she thinks she can act all high class._

She clutched her head as she tried to shut the voices out. 

"That pain of yours will live forever deep inside of you. You can run as far as you can, but the pain will always be there." He told her as he took out his sword to swing at her again. 

"Not so fast!" A voice shouted as Dark Prince was suddenly pulled back. "You alright, Tiger Lily?"

Tiger Lily looked up at the spotted heroine and smiled. "Thanks, Ladybug. I-Im about to transform back. Think you could hold him off for a bit?" 

Ladybug smiled and nodded at her. "No worries. I got backup."

As she said that, three other heroes appeared next to her. A bee hero known as Queen Bee, a fox hero known as Kitsune, and a turtle hero known as Tortuga. Tiger Lily smiled up at them before leaving to detransform. 

"Tortuga, be ready to protect us from anything at all costs. Kitsune and Queen Bee, we've got to hold him off til Tiger Lily comes back. You guys ready?"

They all nodded at her as they charged towards Dark Prince.

* * *

Tiger Lily had landed in a nearby alleyway, took a quick look around, then detransformed. Roaar flew out of the panjas bracelet and landed in her hand as she gave him a cookie to eat. 

"We have to hurry back, Roaar. Ladybug could have a-" 

_You're nothing, Ashlyn._

Her eyes widened in shock. No way... She was still affected by the akuma? 

_Who would want to be friends with you anyway?_

_Ashlyn the tattle tell! Ashlyn the tattle tell!_

_I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up all alone._

"Ashlyn? Is everything okay?" Roaar asked.

_Your father is rather busy._

_Shouldn't you be practicing the piano with Adrien?_

"Am I... Am I truly alone?" She started to cry.

"Ashlyn, no, you're not alone. You're never truly alone as long as I'm here." 

Ashlyn couldn't help but cry as the voices drowned out Roaar's. She hugged her knees close to her and laid her head down and continued to cry.

* * *

Dark Prince began charging at the heroes trying to slash at them with his sword. 

"Ugh! Where is Tiger Lily!?" Queen Bee shouted.

"Give her time. For now, we've gotta hold off Dark Prince as long as we can." Ladybug said.

"Well, I hate to break it you but we don't have much time before totality." Kitsune stated as she pointed towards the sun which was nearly covered by the moon. 

"I say we go through with the plan without Miss Kitty Cat." Queen Bee suggested.

"No. This is a team effort and frankly, I need everyone on board including Tiger Lily." Ladybug explained as she dodged one of Dark Prince's attacks. 

"I don't see why we need Tiger Lily." Queen Bee said.

Kitsune sighed, "do you listen to anything?"

Queen Bee sent a glare her way and was about to come up with a retort til Ladybug interrupted.

"Now's not the time guys..." Ladybug said as she looked between the two then back at Queen Bee. "Tiger Lily is the only one that can get you close enough to Dark Prince while Kitsune distracts them with her illusions. Tortuga will be backup protection in case of any of you gets touched by his sword."

"And how do you suppose she'll do that?" 

"With a little luck on her side." Ladybug winked. "Lucky charm!" She shouted as a piece of paper landed in her hand. 

"Oh, great... Some paper... What are you gonna do? Read him to death?"

"It's... a diagram of the eclipse?" Ladybug said as she looked it over.

"What do you think it means?" Kitsune asked.

"I don't know, I'll probably figure it out when Tiger Lily arrives."

"Well wherever that mangy cat is, she better hurry it up." Queen Bee said.

"She'll be here." Ladybug said with confidence as she looked up at the sun. _Please hurry, Tiger Lily..._

* * *

Ashlyn cried and cried. Thinking of all the bad memories that haunted her. 

How her friends had lied about her, used her, and even abandoned her.

Her father, too. It had hurt when their mother suddenly disappeared, it really did. But, of course, both her and Adrien remained strong in hopes of seeing her again. Their father, not so much. He buried himself in his work and kept his distance from both of them. He had sent her off to travel for his stupid fashion launch for a year. She didn't mind, of course. She only wished Adrien had come with her.

But she knew the truth of why he couldn't.

Adrien was almost a spitting image of their mom while Ashlyn wasn't. She knew in her heart that her father wanted to protect that. Protect what was left of their mother.

But why? Why only Adrien? Did he truly not care about her, too? She cried as she pulled her knees closer to her and laid her head down.

_Pain is what makes you weak. _A voice spoke.

Ashlyn hugged her knees tightly as more and more tears fell. 

She suddenly felt paws on her hand and looked up slowly to see Roaar smiling at her. 

Roaar...

He had always been there for her during her travels. Not once has he ever left her side. He stayed by her, always.

She then remembered Marinette. She was by her side as well. Marinette didn't care for her social status or the fact that she was rich. She cared about their friendship. Master Fu had chosen a great Ladybug.

She also remembered Adrien. He may be clueless to the things happening around him but he was her brother and they both promised to protect each other. She furrowed her brows, remembering how she couldn't protect Adrien from the akuma. She felt... like she couldn't keep her promise to him.

"It's not your fault." She looked up at Roaar who gave her a small smile. "You're only human, Ashlyn. I know you may think that what happened with your friends and father is your fault but it isn't. None of it is."

"Roaar..."

"Even if the whole world is against you, I will always stand by you one hundred percent, _Tiger Lily." _He smiled.

She smiled at him. "Thank you, Roaar."

"Are you okay enough to get back into battle?" He asked.

"Yes. I know I'll be." She smiled at him. "Let's go save Adrien." 

* * *

Ladybug and the rest of the Miraculous team landed on top of a building as they looked over at Dark Prince standing on a spire. "You waste your time. Hand over your miraculous now."

"Please, Adrien. I know you're in there somewhere. You don't have to this!" Ladybug shouted.

"I am not Adrien. I am Dark Prince." 

"You're Adrien no matter what! I can save you, please, just give me your akuma." Ladybug tried to reason.

"Adrien was weak... A victim to the pain and confinement within his own home. A victim to the loneliness that he felt all those years trapped inside his house... Don't you see? Pain is what makes you weak..."

The heroes all looked at each other then at Dark Prince with sympathy in their eyes. 

"That's not true!" Someone shouted.

They all turned to see an orange striped heroine on top of a building. 

"The pain does hurt, but it doesn't make you weak." Tiger Lily said.

"What would you know? You wouldn't understand a thing!" Dark Prince shouted as he swung his sword at Tiger Lily who dodged it and landed on the building next to her. 

"I do understand your pain, Adrien. I know it only too well. Please, don't subject yourself to this." She pleaded.

"You claim to understand my pain...? Very well... I'll subject you to that very same pain!" He shouted as he lunged his sword at her.

"Now!" Ladybug shouted as Tortuge jumped in front of Tiger Lily and shielded her while Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around Dark Prince's waist to hold him down. 

"Ha! Don't think your yo-yo will be strong enough to hold me down Ladybug." Dark Prince smirked as he looked up at the sky and saw the moon cover the sun, causing the whole city to become dark. "You're too late... Now all of you will suffer the same pain as me!" He shouted as he tried to form a ball of darkness but failed. "W-What? What's happening!?" 

just then, the eclipse disappeared to show the real solar eclipse which was nearly towards totality. "An illusion!?"

"You got that right, Princey boy." Ladybug winked. "Queen Bee, now!"

"Venom!" Queen Bee shouted as she stung Dark Prince from behind and took away his akuma and threw it towards Ladybug who purified it. 

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She shouted as she threw the piece of paper into the air while the miraculous ladybugs fixed everything. 

Adrien appeared on the ground with a sad look on his face. Ladybug tried to go up to him but was stopped by Tiger Lily. "Let me handle this." She said with a soft smile.

Ladybug looked at her for a moment and nodded her head at her as she called the other heroes to retrieve their miraculous.

Tiger Lily walked up to Adrien and knelt down in front of him.

"I really made a mess of things, didn't I?" He sighed.

"No, it wasn't your fault. Hawkmoth was the one who took advantage of your emotions." She told him.

"I know you're just trying to make me feel better, Tiger Lily. But... I already know how you feel about me. I'm a lousy hero." He said as he got up.

She sighed as she got up with him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I never said you were a lousy hero. You have potential, Adrien. Lots of it. If you prove yourself, then you'll be worthy of your miraculous again." Tiger Lily smiled.

"Really?"

She nodded at him. "Would you like me to take you home?" 

He shook his head at her, "no, I'd like to return to school. I have some apologies to make."

Tiger Lily smiled as she picked him up in her arms and carried him towards school. 


	19. Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien apologizes to everyone for his akumatization.

"Thank you, Tiger Lily." Adrien smiled as she put him down in front of the entrance to the school.

"Of course. Keep your head up, Adrien. Things will get better, I promise." And with that, she left to go and detransform. 

Adrien smiled and let out a small sigh as he walked up the stairs to the school and made his way to class. He looked inside the room to see everyone sitting in their seats talking. Miss Bustier must have gone out the class for something. He took a deep breath and made his way inside. 

As soon as he did, everyone went silent and turned to stare at him. He furrowed his brows and rubbed his arm nervously. "H-Hey, everyone. I... I just wanted to apologise for what happened today. I didn't mean to put you all in danger and I... I'm sorry. I let my emotions get the best of me and-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and pull him into a hug. His eyes widened as he looked down to see none other than Marinette herself. He heard her sniffle as she pulled away to look at him with tears in her eyes. "You got hurt and you're apologizing?" She sniffled. "Don't ever apologize for that. Don't ever apologize for getting hurt." She cried as she pulled him into another hug. 

Adrien let out a soft smile as he wrapped his arms around her. "I really don't deserve your friendship, Marinette. I was the one who hurt you the most and yet you forgave me."

Marinette cried into his shoulder as she hugged him tighter. Adrien simply smiled as he continued to hug her some more. To him, Marinette's arms felt like home... He felt a hand on his shoulder and pulled away from Marinette to see Nino smiling up at him. "You alright, dude?"

Adrien smiled, "yeah, I am. Listen, Nino... I'm sorry, too."

Nino raised a brow at him and let out a small laugh. "For what?"

"For ruining our friendship and letting Marinette get hurt. I'm really sorry..."

Nino sighed as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, look. You don't have to apologise for that, alright? We're bros and bros stick together no matter what. If anything, I'm sorry. I totally forgot you were raised by your old man so it can be pretty tough learning how friendships work."

Adrien smiled as he pulled Nino into a hug which shocked the boy. Nevertheless, Nino also returned the hug and gave him a small pat on the back. 

Adrien looked around the room to see the rest of his classmates talking with one another. Lila and Alya were no where to be found as well as his sister. He furrowed his brows worriedly and looked around the room again in case he just missed her. But no luck, his sister was no where to be found. "W-Where's Ashlyn?" He asked worriedly.

"O-Oh, uh... D-Don't worry about her! We were both hiding together in the locker rooms so she might still be there?" Marinette said, but it came out more like a question than an actual answer.

"I'm gonna go-"

Before Adrien could finish his sentence, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him again. He looked down at the person to see that it was Ashlyn. “A-Ash! Thank goodness you’re okay. I was so worried that I hurt you and I-“

“Don’t, Adrien. Don’t start.” She pulled away from him and that’s when he noticed tears streaming down her face. “I blame myself for not being able to protect you...” 

He furrowed his brows at her as he pulled her into a hug again. “You’re the one person I never wanted to hurt... I hope I didn’t do anything to harm you when I was akumatized.”

Ashlyn widened her eyes at him as she averted his gaze. She remembered the memories that haunted her and how the pain had hurt. 

“Ash?”

”You could never hurt me, Adrien.” She smiled.

He didn’t look convinced but decided not to ask anymore. She’d tell him when she was ready.   
  
“Well, I’d say we’ve all had a long eventful day.” Marinette chuckled, “how about we go over to my house after school and I make everyone some pastries.”

Nino and the twins smiled at the girl in front of them and nodded their head at her. Soon enough, Alya walked in and made her way towards her seat in the front not meeting anyone’s gaze. Once she sat in her seat, she took a small glance at Marinette then at the group and looked back down at her desk.

Marinette raised a brow at her then simply shrugged her off as she made her way back to the desk with the others following behind her.   
  


Soon enough, Lila made her way inside the room with a smile on her face as she sat down next to Alya and started talking about something that Marinette could only assume was another lie. But by the look on Alya’s face, she didn’t seem at all interested like she was before.   
  
Miss Bustier eventually walked into the room and apologized for being late as she started her lesson. 

* * *

After school finally came and Marinette, the twins, and Nino made their way towards her bakery. She invited them up into her room while she went downstairs to get some pastries.

“I’ll go help Marinette.” Ashlyn smiled as she made her way downstairs leaving Adrien and Nino.

Adrien took a look around her room examining the designs and posters. He then looked over at the board next to her bed and realized the pictures that were there are gone. He remembered seeing tons of pictures of him and their friends when him and Ladybug were fighting against Troublemaker in her room. She must’ve taken them down when they turned against her. Who could really blame her though?

”So, dude, got any plans for Saturday? We could play Ultimate Mecha Strike 3 at my place if you’re down.”

”Aw, man. I’m sorry, Nino but I made plans with Marinette that day.”

Nino’s eyes widened at this. “Oh, really? You guys have a date or something?”

“I-It’s not a date! We’re just... hanging out as friends!” Adrien said as he felt the heat rising to his cheeks.

Nino laughed at him. “Whoa, okay. No need to get all defensive bro.”   
  


“Besides... she doesn’t see me that way.”

Nino sighed. If he only knew...

They heard the trap door open to see Ashlyn coming up with a few juice boxes. “Hey, guys.” She greeted as she set down the juice boxes.

”Where’s Mari?” Nino asked.

”Oh, she’s reheating some of the pastries so she might take a while.” Ashlyn explained.

“And you just left her alone?” Nino asked.

”I told her I’d keep her company but she insisted I wait upstairs.”

Nino chuckled, “typical Mari... She really hasn’t changed since we were kids.”

“I didn’t think you knew Marinette that long.” Adrien spoke.

”Dude, I told you. I practically grew up with her. She was always so nice to people when we were growing up. That’s made me like her.” Nino smiled.

Adrien flinched when he heard that which didn’t go unnoticed by Ashlyn. She smirked as she looked over at Nino.

”I didn’t know you had feelings for Marinette.” She said.

“Oh, yeah. For a little while though. But who wouldn’t have feelings for Marinette?” Nino smiled.

”You’re right, Nino. Who _wouldn’t_ have feelings for her? She’s really sweet and cute and-“

”I’m going to check on Marinette to see if she needs help.” Adrien said as she stood up and made his way down the trap door. As soon as he did, Ashlyn let out a laugh.

“That a dirty trick, dudette.” Nino chuckled.

“Who cares? We’re siblings. Hopefully it’ll help him realize she’s more than _just a friend_.”

The two groaned at the thought of blonde still being oblivious to his own feelings. 

* * *

Adrien made his way downstairs to see Marinette putting some macaroons in the oven. “Marinette?”

The girl jumped in surprise as the tray fell out of her hands. Luckily, Adrien had moved forward to catch it leaving some of the macaroons in tact. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”   
  


Marinette laughed as she took the tray in and put it in the oven then turned it on. “No worries. What are you doing down here? Did you need something?”

”Actually I came down here to see if you needed any help.” He told her.

“Oh, thank you, Adrien. But as you can see, I have everything under control.”   
  
“You always do.” He smiled.

She smiled at him as she heard a knock on the back door. She took off her apron and made her way around to answer it.   
  


“Hello, can I-“ Marinette’s eyes widened at the person in front of her. “A-Alya?”   
  


Adrien’s eyes widened in shock as he stood behind the doorway entrance to the bakery and peeked out to see Alya standing in front of Marinette. 

“H-Hi, Marinette...” She spoke.

”You’re here why?” She asked, a bit harsh.

The reporter flinched at the tone of her voice. She furrowed her brows and sighed as she looked up at Marinette. “I just came to apologize...”

Marinette raised a brow at her as she waited for the girl to continue.

“You were right about Lila lying... And if you ask how I know... She basically lied about being the new-“ Alya gulped, “someone that I know a lot.”   
  


Marinette already knew what the lie was and frankly she was not surprised. Lila had tried to lie about being one of the new heroes from today since no one else knew who the new heroes were except for her.   
  
“Is that all?” Marinette asked.

“No, I said I wanted to apologize... I... I’m sorry, Marinette. I should’ve believed you when you said she was lying instead of brushing it off as mere jealousy. I’ve already deleted my entire blog.”

This came as a shock to Marinette. Alya was very committed to the Ladyblog. She never thought she’d delete it when she found out Lila was lying. She thought she’d just delete the videos but somehow, she was wrong.

She sighed as she looked up at her used to be best friend. “Listen, Alya. While I do accept your apology. I won’t forgive you nor will I trust you. You were the one person that I thought would have my back when I told you something fishy about Lila. But you didn’t. For now, I need some time away from you until I can actually forgive you.”

Alya flinched at her speech but wasn’t exactly surprised. She knew Marinette wouldn’t forgive her after what she had done. “I understand, Marinette... I promise to be better. T-Thank you.” And with that, Alya began walking away. Marinette hoped there wouldn’t be another akuma today because she needed a break.   
  
Marinette sighed as she closed the door and made her way back to the bakery to see Adrien waiting for her.

”So, what did Alya want?” He asked, but he already knew the answer to that.

“She wanted to apologize.” She told him.

”Did you...?”

Marinette shook her head, “no, I didn’t forgive her. Not yet, at least. She was my best friend and she hurt me so I don’t think I can forgive her right now nor can I trust her.”   
  


Adrien let out a small smile. “So... am I close to earning your trust back?”   
  


Marinette raised a brow at him. “Maybe.” She chuckled as she put on some oven mitts and took the tray of macaroons out. She set them down on the table to let them cool as she got a piping bag and filled it with icing.

Adrien immediately recognized the smell and smiled. “Hey, that’s passion fruit, isn’t it?”

Marinette chuckled. “Of course.”

Adrien smiled at her, “can I help?”   
  
“Do you know how?” She asked him.

”Well, no. But maybe you can show me?” He smiled as he took the piping bag from her. She blushed a little as she nodded her head at him and placed her hands on his to guide him and began explaining how to fill the macaroons.

Meanwhile, Ashlyn and Nino watched from the stairway as the two friends worked together to fill the macaroons with Marinette trying hard to hide her blush and Adrien being oblivious.

Ashlyn and Nino sighed, “What a dense boy...” 


	20. Does Lila Rossi is gay? (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lila goes against Ashlyn and Kagami

“Thanks for having us over.” Both Ashlyn and Adrien smiled at Marinette and her parents. Nino had already left since his parents were going out for a date, which meant he had to babysit Chris. 

“You’re always welcome here.” Tom smiled. “Make sure to come back and play some more UMS with us, okay?” He winked.

Sabine shook her head at her husband and smiled at the twins as she handed them both a bag of baked goods. “Keep your head up and remember... you can always come and stay over here for as long as you like.” The woman smiled as she pulled them both into a hug. 

Needless to say, both Ashlyn and Adrien felt like crying. It’s been so long since they’ve felt this kind of love from a parent. They’ve only ever had each other ever since their Mother disappeared. 

“I’ll see you two tomorrow. Call me if anything, okay?” Marinette smiled.

The twins nodded at her. “We will. Thanks again. Bye!” They waved as they began to walk home together. 

“You think Nathalie told father?” Adrien asked.

”I couldn’t care less if she did. We’re still going to tarnish the Agreste Brand.” Ashlyn replied as she looked inside the bag of baked goods. She smelled a familiar scent and scrunched her nose up in disgust. “Gross, passion fruit.” 

“But you hate passion fruit.” Adrien laughed.

”I know. Well, it’s not Sabine’s fault. She didn’t know.”

Adrien then took a peek inside his bag to see chocolate chip cookies, croissants, and blueberry danish.

“Blueberry danish? I don’t eat this.”

”No, but I do. Trade?”

Adrien nodded as he handed his bag over to Ashlyn as she handed hers over to him. “This is so weird... Why do you have passion fruit and I have danish? Kind of a weird coincidence.”

Ashlyn examined the bag for a bit and noticed her name written on it. She then looked over at Adrien’s and noticed his name as well. She chuckled when she realized who the penmanship belonged too.

“Marinette.”

”Hm? What about Marinette?" Adrien asked as they finally reach the big gate in front of their house.

"She obviously made the passion fruit for you and the blueberry danish for me. I remember telling her it was my favorite. I didn't think she'd actually make it." Ashlyn smiled as the gate opened and the twins made their way into the house only to be greeted by their father atop of the stairs.

Ashlyn glared up at the man before her while Adrien stood beside her with a nervous expression on his face. Even if he thought of the plan to rebel against the Agreste Brand, he was still scared to look his father in the eye. He was lucky Ashlyn was there to do it for them. She looked over at him and held onto his hand to give him some comfort.

"I'm assuming Nathalie told you about our 'behavior' today?" Ashlyn spoke with a cocked brow.

"Not quite." He said as he pulled up his phone to reveal a photo with a caption that read "Gabriel's New Muse attacked by Agreste Twins!?"

It wasn't exaclty a lie, Ashlyn did sort of attack Lila. But to include Adrien, too? She wouldn't stand for that. It was her own fault and she would not drag her brother into it. 

"You both made a mockery of the-" Gabriel scolded.

"Just so you know, Adrien isn't at fault here."

"But, Ash-!" Adrien spoke but was stopped. 

"I attacked her but only because-“ Ashlyn said.

“Enough. You will both go to your rooms and stay there. From now on, your bodyguard will be picking you up from school and only school. You two won’t be allowed anywhere else, do you understand?” He scolded.

”You’re not even going to listen to what I have to say!?” Ashlyn shouted.

”I said enough!” 

Ashlyn looked up at her father with disappointment in her eyes. She hoped that he would stop caring about the brand for once and listen to what his children had to say. For once, she hoped her father would consider their feelings. Their mother always listened to them, gave them a chance to speak. She closed her eyes and sighed as she looked over at Adrien. "Let's go." 

Adrien furrowed his brows at her as he took her hand in his and walked up the stairs with her and past their father as he walked downstairs to his office not even sparing a glance to his children. He heard her mumble something under her breath but decided to leave it. Ashlyn needed her brother and he would be there for her. 

“My room or yours?” He asked her.

Ashlyn didn’t answer, instead she pulled him towards his room and locked the door behind them. She sighed as she went over to his couch and sat down with her brother beside her. 

"I'm not gonna ask whether you're okay or not because the answer is pretty obvious." He told her.

"Yep." She said, popping the p.

Adrien sighed, "and I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it?"

"Not even in the slightest."

Adrien leaned back against the couch as he let out a heavy sigh. "Are we actually going to listen to him though?"

Ashlyn raised a brow, "uh, what happened to '_I'm done listening to him.' _?" She laughed.

"Hey, he may not scare you but he still scares me. I'm lucky enough to have you back me up when things go wrong with him." He chuckled.

Ashlyn rolled his eyes at him and let out a small chuckle, “you still have a long way to go.” 

“I’m trying, I promise.” He smiled.

”I know.” She said.

Just then, her phone went off and she turned it on to see a message from Marinette. 

_‘Don’t forget about the LGBTQ open circle tomorrow!’_

_”_Oh, shoot.”

”What’s wrong?” Adrien asked.

”I forgot about the LGBTQ club tomorrow." Ashlyn sighed as she started texting Marinette back. 

"Oh, right. You've supported a bunch of your friends in pride marches. I remember you telling me that over one of our video calls." Adrien smiled as he remembered the time Ashlyn called him while wearing a pride shirt with a rainbow eyeshadow. 

She smiled and nodded at him, "it was really fun. Just kinda disappointed that Dad didn't approve of it. He scolded me over one of our video calls about how me joining in the pride marches is a defamation to the Agreste Brand." She sighed as she leaned back against the couch, "but I never stopped supporting my friends so I did those pride marches in secret. One of my friends managed to get me a wig and I somehow managed to avoid every camera." 

Adrien laughed at that. "Is it okay if I come along?"

Ashlyn smiled, "sure. I'll text Marinette."

It was decided that both twins would be attending the LGBTQ open circle tomorrow. They didn't care whether their father was furious with them for not coming home straight away, they were already rebelling against the Agreste Brand. 

* * *

_"I'm kinda nervous, Marinette..." _A nervous Kagami said over the phone.

"Don't be. You don't necessarily have to say Ashlyn's name. Just pour out your feelings as if you were confessing to her." Marinette smiled.

_"And you're sure I can trust the people there?" _Kagami asked hesistantly. She didn't want to pour out her feelings and have word get out to her mother.

"You've met Rose and Juleka, haven't you?" 

_"Yes, I have. Didn't we hang out with them one time while we were baking together?" _

Marinette giggled, "yes, we did."

_"Okay... I'm glad there are people I can trust."_

"Don't worry. The open circle is just between the LGBTQ club, people will be taking an oath anyway. What happens in the LGBTQ club stays in the LGBTQ club."

_"Alright then. I'm going to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow, Marinette."_

"Bye, Kagami." Marinette smiled as she turned off the phone.

Tikki flew in front of Marinette with a worried look on her face. "What if Ashlyn doesn't feel the same about Kagami?" 

Marinette's eyes widened and then looked down at the ground. She furrowed her brows and gave a soft smile to Tikki. "Then at least she'll know."

"But won't Kagami be hurt?"

"She will. But at least she'll know how Ashlyn feels. If she does get hurt, she can count on me to be there."

Tikki smiled at her chosen, "you're a great friend, Marinette."

"Let's get some sleep." Marinette smiled as she went into bed.

* * *

It was Friday and classes went by as usual. An akuma appeared early in the moring but luckily Ladybug and Tiger Lily were able to handle it with ease. It was after school, which meant is what time for the LGBTQ open circle. A nervous Kagami waited outside of the club for Marinette.

"Hey, Kagami!" Marinette smiled happily as she ran up to her friend.

"H-Hey, Marinette."

Marinette blinked at the girl. "You alright? You seem-"

"Nervous? Why would I be nervous? Me? I'm never nervous-"

"Hey, Marinette!" A voice called out and both girls turned to see the Agreste Twins walking up to them. Ashlyn was the one that had called out to them.

"Hey, Ash." Marinette smiled as she looked behind her to see Adrien. "Glad you came too, Adrien."

Ashlyn smiled at her as she looked over Kagami who had a nervous expression on her face. "I'm surprised to see you here, Kagami." 

"M-Me, too! I didn't think this was your kind of thing." 

"I've done a few pride marches for friends." Ashlyn chuckled. 

"That's amazing. As expected of you." 

Marinette smiled at the two as she grabbed onto Adrien's arm. "We'll be heading inside now. Come in when you're both ready!"

"Marinette, wait-!" Kagami said but was too late as the door opened and closed in front of her, leaving both Ashlyn and Kagami alone.

"You okay, Kagami?"

"Perfectly fine." Kagami said as she let out a small yet nervous smile.

"Okay... So, if you're ready to go-"

"Ashlyn!" A voice called out and both girls winced at the sound of Ashlyn's name being called out. They turned around towards the source of the sickenly sweet voice to see Lila waving over at them. "Wow, you're here too. What a surprise."

"What do you want, Lila?" Ashlyn snarled.

"I just came to support my LGBTQ friends is all and tell them all about my amazing experiences in the pride marches I've done to support a few people across the world." 

Ashlyn rolled her eyes at her. "As if you participated in any pride marches."

"Well, being the daughter of a diplomat does have its perks..." Lila smiled as she looked to the side of Ashlyn and noticed Kagami giving her a death glare. Lila raised a brow at her and let out a sickeningly sweet smile, "I'm surprised to see you here, Kagami! Are you here to support your friends as well?"

"Don't talk to me so formally. We're not friends." The Japanese girl said through gritted teeth. Kagami knew of the things she had done to Marinette and would've sliced the girl in half right then and there.

"But, Kagami! I thought we were friends! I even dropped your name to a famour fencer in-"

"Leave her alone, Lila. She's not buying your crap." Ashlyn said as she stood in front of Kagami.

"This doesn't concern you anymore." Lila smiled.

"No, it does. You've hurt Marinette and Adrien, don't think I'm gonna let you lay a finger on Kagami." Ashlyn threatened which made Kagami blush.

"Why protect her when you should protect Adrien? She was akumatized once you know... She could've seriously hurt Adrien!"

"Even if she did hurt Adrien. She wouldn't have done it intentionally. If anything, the only person that Adrien needs protection from is _you_." Ashlyn said with a glare. She then looked over at Kagami, "we've wasted enough time here. Let's go inside before they start." 

Kagami nodded at her as both her and Ashlyn made their way inside the club room. 

Lila glared at the two of them and fixed her posture as she threw her hair back over her shoulder and put on her best fake smile as she made her way into the club room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late update! I was slummed with commissions D; Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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